How big a shadow will Woods’ absence really cast?

And there was Ike’s Tree, in a lumberjack’s yard, thinking it would be sorely missed at Augusta. With respect to the old loblolly pine — irretrievably damaged in a recent storm — Tiger Woods’ (picture) absence will cast a shadow over the 78th Masters bigger than everything, regardless of breadth of branch or history.

It is not just that Woods will be skipping a Major, as he has skipped four before. It is that he is skipping the Masters, the tournament with which he will always be synonymous. The last time the season’s opening Major was without him was in 1994, when Jose Maria Olazabal made it six Masters titles in seven years.

“Who is going to win now?” came the inevitable question in the immediate wake of his withdrawal on Tuesday.

Ironically, the answer is, almost certainly, the player who was going to win it anyway. Woods has not won at the Masters since 2005.

And then there is his form. His best finish to date this year in a full-field was a tie for 41st. In truth, Woods would have seemed more unlikely to win this year than any time since he broke all those records with that 12-shot career-definer 17 years ago.

An indicator of this was provided by the shrug of the shoulders in bookmaking ranks.

Ladbrokes brought Rory McIlroy in from 8-1 to 7-1, left Adam Scott at 8-1 and moved Phil Mickelson into 14-1 from 16-1. These are hardly the market moves that follow a calamity.

This indifference from the profiteers will be much the same for the rest of the season. It was quickly emerging on Tuesday night that the back surgery Woods will have to fix a pinched nerve does not suggest the professional fairways will see him any time soon.

Will Hoylake greet its 2006 champion, the man who put the Wirral back on the golfing map? That must be a toss-up, at this moment, but even if he does appear, golf fans should anticipate the red-shirted one in a radically different guise.

Woods will come back feeling probably newer than ever, but his standing will seem very old.

Young athletes such as McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Victor Dubuisson and Jason Day are lighting the way to a Tiger-free future, while those such as Adam Scott, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson will have a strengthened conviction that this is their moment. In this backdrop, Woods’ chase of Jack Nicklaus’ record haul of 18 majors appears utterly forlorn.

The profiteers agree. They have pushed the likelihood of him succeeding in his lifelong quest to 25-1 from 6-1 on Tuesday night.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

James Corrigan is The Daily Telegraph’s golf correspondent.