For a large number of people, Sunday at the Masters was a letdown. Not because Rory McIlroy Greg Norman-ed away the 2011 green jacket, but because Tiger Woods came up short of one.

The same Tiger Woods that was vilified and lampooned for the better part of the last two years was suddenly cheered again like nothing had happened.

I found myself hoping he would complete the comeback, a positive feeling toward Tiger I never thought I’d feel again.

Because let’s not let one of the greatest final rounds of the Masters ever make us forget what Tiger is coming back from. He went through possibly the most embarrassing and drawn-out ordeal a public figure can go through.

And it was all his own doing.

It was Tiger who cheated on his wife multiple times and lied to her and the rest of his fan base about who he really was. It was Tiger who had more mistresses than JFK at his peak. It was Tiger who bought into his own hype and got a little too big for his billion-dollar britches.

It was Tiger who gave it all away.

Yet it was Tiger who the majority of people were pulling for Sunday. It was as though everything since that fateful day in November 2009 had been either forgiven or forgotten — or both. The gallery at Augusta National was almost completely pro-Tiger, and the announcers were gushing over the 14-time major champion.

Granted, there is still a large number of people who haven’t forgiven or forgotten. Those people just weren’t nearly as vocal in social media or in the gallery.

I wrote two weeks ago that Tiger has lost his edge and is now just another golfer.

Well, he almost made me eat crow Sunday. After the front nine, all I could think was how crazy I could’ve been to say Tiger Woods was just average now. Then he threw a three-putt party on the back nine and couldn’t quite finish it off.

He showed flashes of the old Tiger in those first nine holes and reminded everyone why they loved watching him play in the first place. He had that steely-eyed, “go-for-the-kill” look on his face that we’ve all seen so many times before. It’s the look that made him the most popular and recognizable athlete in the world.

The truth is that golf needs Tiger to do well. His winless drought is like Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s in NASCAR or the Dallas Cowboys’ playoff drought was for so many years. When the stars and most popular teams in sports aren’t succeeding, the whole sport suffers.

The years in the NBA when the Lakers and Celtics were average, people simply didn’t pay as much attention. Sure, those San Antonio Spurs teams that won in the interim were great and had possibly the greatest power forward of all time, in Tim Duncan, leading the way. But they weren’t exactly the most exciting, and didn’t have the history and tradition that teams like the Lakers and Celtics have.

Every other golfer knows it, too. When he’s just at a tournament, ratings and attendance go way up, and possible exposure for golfers and their sponsors goes up.

Make no mistake, companies may not want to sponsor him, but any company that sponsors a professional golfer wants him to do well too. Because if he’s at a tournament, television cameras are there. Those cameras will invariably catch a golfer wearing a hat with their product’s name or swinging their club. It’s that trickle-down effect that helps golf thrive.

When he’s good, the sport is good. No two ways about it.

So no matter how you feel about Tiger as a person, it’s clear golf needs him as a player. Clearly, there are people who want that player back.

Really, who wouldn’t? Sports are about entertainment, among other things.

And Tiger Woods certainly is entertaining.