TIGER Woods will make his competitive reappearance at the Masters in April. It has the makings of the sporting story of the year.

The announcement, made on Tuesday, came after one false start – a heavily-trailed media conference on Monday, hosted by the PGA Tour in Florida, which had been expected to deliver the news.

The tale of golf's false dawn, its dampest squib of the year, is worth telling. On Sunday, the tour's boss Tim Finchem had teased his audience, suggesting that an announcement on Woods' competitive return was imminent.

Shortly afterwards, a teleconference was scheduled by Finchem.

Unusually, the subject field on the invitation was left blank.

It seemed the moment had indeed arrived.

So the world's media called in. Executive vice president Ty Votaw gave the introductory speech and then Finchem came on the line. There was a theatrical pause followed by the announcement – Finchem confirming that insurance company Farmers had agreed to extend its title sponsorship of their tournament for another four years.