Tiger Woods is back — and professional golf matters again.

All sports lose something when the top dog is absent. Imagine tennis without Roger Federer, baseball without Alex Rodriguez, basketball without LeBron James or Kobe Bryant.

Those respective sports would be missing something, to be sure, if those guys weren't there.

But it would be nothing like pro golf missing Tiger Woods.

When Woods announced he would need reconstructive knee surgery following his epic 19-hole playoff win over Rocco Mediate at the U.S. Open last June, you could almost hear a collective sigh from this nation's golf fans.

You could almost feel the thousands of eyes leaving their TV screens when subsequent PGA events were televised.

If Tiger's not involved, it's not the same.

Padraig Harrington winning back-to-back majors in a Tiger-less field? Not the same.

It's almost as if an asterisk should be placed next to Harrington's victories in the record book.

Hey, nice accomplishment, but Tiger wasn't there.

The combination of Woods' incredible skills, his assault on the sport's record books, engaging personality, broad smile and legendary fist pump has this man carrying a sport's flag like few before him.

Muhammad Ali was boxing. Babe Ruth was baseball. Yeah, it's like that.

After an eight-month layoff, Woods returned to action Wednesday at the Match Play Championships in Arizona and produced a birdie and an eagle on his first two holes.

On the par-5 No. 2 hole, he lofted a 3-iron on his second shot that came to rest four feet from the cup.

No one should have been surprised. This guy does stuff like that all the time. He beat Mediate on virtually one leg in that U.S. Open playoff, after all.

In 222 professional golf tournaments played, Woods has 65 victories. That's a 29 percent winning rate when going against fields comprising the best golfers in the world.

That's sick.

The man has won 14 majors in a 13-year career. Jack Nicklaus won 18 in a 25-year career.

Nicklaus won 73 PGA Tour events in those 25 years. Woods has 65 PGA Tour wins in almost half the time. Sam Snead compiled the PGA record of 82 wins in a 30-year career.

Nobody knows how long Woods plans to play professional golf. He is a big family guy and he's already earned more than $82 million on the pro tour alone.

Rest assured: If this man wants to catch Nicklaus and Snead, he'll do it.

But it doesn't really matter.

Having already won The Masters by a record 12-stroke margin in his first year as a pro, and being the youngest and fastest player to reach 50 PGA Tour wins, Woods' golf legacy is secure.

What does matter is golf's prime time player is back.

And so is the on-course drama that was lacking in his absence.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle