What does it say about golf when Tiger Woods is still dominating attention?

Tiger Woods is the only golfer who matters and the only golfer who has ever mattered.

We are nothing without him, were nothing without him and will never be anything without him.

I know this because America is throwing itself at Tiger as if he’s the last bottle of water in a desert. He’ll tee off at 9:42 a.m. Central time Thursday as one of the favorites at the Masters. Why is he a favorite after missing most of the previous two seasons with back issues and struggling the two seasons before that? Because last month, he finished tied for second at the Valspar Championship and tied for fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

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All it took was a couple of nice results, and everything came rushing back to us: the red shirt on Sunday, the fist pumps, the roaring galleries.

I’d argue that golf has a Tiger Woods problem, but everyone would be too busy screaming his name to hear me. So I will ask: What does it say about a sport when a 42-year-old sucks up all the light around him?

Obviously this is not any 42-year-old. This is one of the best golfers in history, the winner of 14 majors and 79 PGA tournaments. We watched him grow from a father-designed phenom to a cold-blooded champion to a prescription-pill gobbler and sex-clinic rehabber.

His was a fascinating story. It’s why we’re lined up for the rebirth.

But the speed with which the country has galloped back to Woods reminds me of a husband who leaves his wife after reconnecting with his high school sweetheart on Facebook. Dustin Johnson? Never heard of him. Justin Thomas? Who the hell is that? All we see and hear right now is Tiger.

ESPN very much wanted him to be great the past four years. If he lifted a club, the network launched team coverage. If he teed off on the first hole of the first round of a middling tournament, an anchor would break into regularly scheduled programming as if California had fallen into the ocean.

The Network That Cried Tiger finally looks right.

Perhaps it’s a good problem to have, but you have to wonder where the sport is at when everyone else can be eclipsed by a player on the 15^th hole of his career. This isn’t a still-in-his-prime Michael Jordan announcing “I’m back’’ after trying to make it as a professional baseball player. This is someone still trying to feel his way back.

Somewhere inside that 42-year-old body, a body that has dealt with knee issues and a spinal fusion, is a fabulous golfer. Fans want to see that again.

They love the game of golf. They love transcendence more. Jordan Spieth is an excellent player. So is Rory McIlroy. So are Johnson and Thomas. But they’re not Woods. None of them has taken over the game the way he did. Judging by the response to Woods’ sudden resurgence, that seems to matter to golf fans. They want to see best-ever stuff. They at least want the possibility of it.

Maybe we didn’t notice that so much when he was away from the game. Now that he’s back, it’s clear that we’ve been starving for it.

Surely there are pro golfers who are saying, “Not him again.’’ When Woods was at the top of his game, it was as if the rest of any tournament field didn’t matter. If he won, all was right with the world. If somebody else won, the stories were about why Tiger didn’t win. If he didn’t play that week, we asked the winner what he thought of Tiger. TV ratings soared because of him. So did prize money, and, funny, you didn’t hear too many golfers grumbling about that.

The younger players think it’s their time. They can start by proving it. By being transcendent. They can swat Woods away as if he’s a fly that’s bothering them as they putt. They can make him act his age, starting at the Masters. If they can’t, they have only themselves to blame.

They’re up against a lot. Golf tournaments are always better when Tiger is leading or contending. The people who follow him on the course believe they’re on his team. When he makes a birdie putt, they think they’ve made a birdie putt. You want to tell them to get in touch with reality, but the look of rapture on their faces tells you that if you value your life, you won’t interrupt their buzz. They’re certainly going to interrupt every other player’s concentration.

Woods is good for golf. He is not good for the golfers who want to be king. The solution is simple: They can start acting like one.

Want more of Rick Morrissey and Rick Telander? Tune into the weekly “Two Ricks: Unfiltered” podcast where the two long-time friends pull back the curtain on their incredible experiences and tackle hot-button issues in sports. New episodes drop every Friday. Listen and subscribe here.