Masters Weekend Kicks Off With Fighting Words from Ian Poulter

Before the first Major event of the year golfer Ian Poulter has criticized the sport's most known player Tiger Woods. Poulter was asked if he thought Woods could contend in this year's tournament that kicks off tomorrow. He responded by saying, "I don't think he'll finish in the top 5."

The comments stemmed from how Poulter felt Woods played in the tournament at Doral. Woods has been changing his swing as the result of a recent slump and Poulter said what he saw was inconsistent.

"You can't afford to hit shots like that on this golf course and get away with it. I don't think you want to rely on your short game that much around this place."

The home course for the Masters, Augusta National, is known throughout golf as one of the toughest courses on the tour. With swirling winds, deep rough and lightning fast greens players who mishit their shots are rarely able to recover and score well.

Of course Woods has been called out before by fellow PGA Tour players. Rory Sabbatini was one of the first people to challenge Woods' dominance in a public forum before being paired with him in the final round of a tournament. Woods' response was to beat thefield by five strokes and keep Sabbatini out of the winner's circle.

The Tiger Woods that we have seen recently is not the same Tiger Woods from a few years ago. After news of his extramarital affairs leaked to the press and he took time away from the sport to deal with personal issues he has been unable to regain the form that made him golf's most feared player. Which Woods will show up this weekend at Augusta is anybody's guess, but he has had success there before and would no doubt like to win the tournament again.