For those who haven’t even thought about golf until now, here are five questions to get you warmed up.

1. Is this the year Tiger gets his Grand Slam? 

The world’s No. 1 didn’t play an official PGA event after winning the Tour Championship in September. In fact, he put his sticks away completely after the Presidents Cup wrapped up on Sept. 30.

Didn’t matter. In December, Tiger Woods won his own Target World Challenge by seven strokes.

"Doesn't help us, does it?" Colin Montgomerie said of Woods' long break. "If he took a bloody year off, it wouldn't help. Never mind 10 weeks."

Woods will launch his 2008 season on Jan. 24 at Torrey Pines. Last year, he won the Buick Invitational for the third time in a row.

Of course, most fans don’t much care what he does in the regular events; it’s not until April that the pressure really builds. That’s because the only thing Woods hasn’t done – well, besides learning to fly – is win all four majors in the same calendar year. The Grand Slam.

Oddsmakers still see it as a long shot. They’re giving him 25/1 odds to win the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship.

However, ask Woods and you get a different answer when it comes to the likelihood of winning the Grand Slam. “I think it’s easily within reason,” he said on his website.

2. Is Ernie Els still an elite player?

He’s ranked a very respectable No. 5 in the world, but as he wrote on his website, “to be honest, 2007 didn’t go as well as I had originally hoped or anticipated.”

The smooth South African struggled in last year’s first two majors, failing to make the cut at the Masters and finishing tied for 51st at the U.S. Open. But a tie for fourth at the British Open and a stand-alone third at the PGA is reason to believe he might rediscover his groove in 2008.

Els hasn’t won on U.S. soil since 2004 and, with a pared-down schedule in 2008, won’t get a chance until late February at the Honda Classic. 

“Looking ahead, I feel that I just have to keep working hard and in particular try to improve my putting, especially under pressure,” he wrote. “I mean, I watch someone like Justin Rose putt – and seriously, his putting is fundamentally as good as Tiger Woods – and you know, I feel like I really need to step it up to that level. I’ve had many times in my career when I’ve putted as well as anyone – obviously, I want to rediscover that touch. I need to rediscover that touch.”

3. Can K.J. Choi maintain his form?

Last year, he started the year ranked 27th in the world. Today, K.J. Choi is at No. 7. 

The likable South Korean moved up another two spots after winning last week’s Sony Open at Waialae in Hawaii, building on a 2007 season that featured two victories and seven top-10 finishes.

One of Choi’s most admirable traits is his ability to finish. He’s held the 54-hole lead five times in his career and won all five times. In other words, this is not a guy that appears to fold under pressure – although he’s yet to impress in the majors. His best finish in 25 tries is third, which came in the 2004 Masters.

"I'm not trying to win a major just to gain respect or just to gain more fan support or increase my fan base," Choi said after his Sony Open triumph. "I want to win a major because I want to win a major, and that's my goal. Winning a major is the highest achievement a professional golfer can achieve. I think if I work hard and win that major, all the rest will just follow that."

4. Will Monty play in the Ryder Cup?

No, he’s never won a major and probably never will, but Colin Montgomerie will still go down as one of the greatest match play competitors in history. The blustery Scot has 20 wins with just nine defeats and seven ties in 36 Ryder Cup matches and would love the opportunity to improve on that record in September at Valhalla.

"Obviously I would like to play," said Montgomerie. "It's been on my list now for 17 years since 1991 and I look forward to trying to play again.

"If not - if not, but I will be trying my damndest to try and get in the team and to show [captain] Nick [Faldo] that I am still capable of performing at that level. And I have to prove it not just to him but to myself as well, so we will see what happens."

5. Will the FedExCup gain any steam?

The inaugural season of the FedExCup, won by Woods, had good intentions – namely to entice the big names to keep playing after the PGA Championship – but its points system was either too complex or poorly communicated to be a hit with the fans.

The “playoffs” of golf did succeed in convincing Woods to enter three events in August after playing just one in 2006. That was the year he, along with Phil Mickelson, skipped the Tour Championship, prompting commissioner Tim Finchem to create the FedExCup.

"I thought it was pretty interesting,” said veteran Steve Stricker in a hardly ringing endorsement. That said, can he really be blamed for a lack of excitement?

"If Tiger does what he does every year, is there going to be any difference?" he added.

Good point, Steve.