PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. --- Will he or won't he? That is the question.

Just when you think it's pretty clear that Tiger Woods will not be coming to the Masters Tournament for the first time since 1994, the world's best exiled golfer starts honing his game five weeks before the start of the season's first major championship.

"Why would he be practicing now if he wasn't going to play?" was the general consensus among PGA Tour players this week when asked whether they thought Woods was gearing up for the Masters.

With Tiger sightings on the rise at the driving range across the street from his home in Isleworth, the overwhelming sentiment has shifted toward thinking Woods will return from his scandal-induced indefinite leave in time to play at Augusta National. The bookmakers are backing the idea, with one making him a 9-4 favorite to win Bay Hill as a pre-Masters tune-up.

Even the game's biggest heavyweights are weighing in on the speculation.

"It would surprise me if he didn't," said Jack Nicklaus of Woods playing the Masters. "Oh yeah, I can't imagine in a hundred years he's going to miss Augusta."

Arnold Palmer, the title host at Bay Hill later in March, followed suit in comments to an Orlando TV station.

"I think he would play in the Masters," Palmer said. "I don't know anything else. That would be my guess."

Guessing is all there really is at this point. Every golfer I asked for a gut feeling said they believe Woods will play at Augusta.

The only person who makes that call isn't saying anything. His last words on Feb. 19 certainly weren't encouraging as he set no timetable for his return during his televised apology.

"I don't rule out that it will be this year," he said.

Not exactly a guy sounding like he was playing by the beginning of April.

But a week after returning to therapy, Woods was back at home practicing. Augusta native Charles Howell, an Isleworth resident, spotted him on the range Monday and spoke to him for the first time since the day before Thanksgiving. Howell said Woods' game looked as solid as ever, but he didn't ask the $64,000 question that everybody wants to have answered.

"I would like to see him come back there," Howell said. "I would think it would be hard to get him to miss that tournament. Knowing him, I think he'd be wanting to play another event before he was ready to play Augusta."

That event will not be Doral, with Friday's commitment deadline passing without a word from Tiger's camp.

The next most likely emergence spot is at the Tavistock Cup team matches. Media would be restricted, but a lot of corporate tickets are uncontrolled and the fans at the event aren't encumbered by ropes.

Then comes Bay Hill. Tournament director Scott Wellington said Woods would be welcomed back as the defending and six-time tournament champion, but he hardly seemed enthusiastic about the headaches and Plan B that would need to be implemented to handle the extra security and media demands Woods would bring with him. Really, people are grasping at straws at this point. It's like reading tea leaves instead of tee sheets.

One corner made the extreme reach that Steve Stricker committing to play Bay Hill for the first time in six years was a sign of Tiger's pending return based on the facts that Stricker is a friend of Woods and a college roommate of his agent, Mark Steinberg.

Another corner considers it a bad sign for Bay Hill because Woods remains angry at tournament broadcast network NBC because it interviewed several of his alleged mistresses on The Today Show .

Some people are openly wondering if the folks at Augusta National really want Woods bringing the circus to town and upstaging the club's genteel tournament.

No matter how wild or educated the thoughts are, it's all still pure speculation.

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Ernie Els when asked his opinion.

But Els considers it good news that Woods is practicing again.

"I believe he'll be embraced when he returns," Els said. "The sport needs him. He's the drawing card, and I think he needs the game, too."

Defending Masters champion Angel Cabrera -- who counts Woods as a friend -- said he hopes the four-time champion plays in the Masters "and he comes back in great form."

"Obviously Tiger is the best and I want him to be back," Cabrera said. "But the Masters will still be the Masters with or without Tiger."

Amen to that.