He’s only three tournaments back from major knee surgery, but Clanton golfers overwhelmingly picked Tiger Woods to win the Masters Tournament, which begins today.

“Tiger Woods, of course,” Clanton Country Club customer service representative Lynn Grisham said when asked who would put on the famous green jacket at the tournament’s conclusion Sunday. “He really loves what he does. What I really love about him is the way he psyches his opponents out. He’s the Intimidator of the golf course.”

Grisham’s daughter, Angilynn Pettijohn agreed, though she admitted she isn’t as much a fan of the sport as her mother.

“I just know he’s a good golf player,” Pettijohn said.

Grisham said the country club’s TVs would be tuned to the tournament, and golfers often stop by the pro shop for updates.

Players polled were almost as unanimous in their belief Woods will win his 15th major championship.

“He’s back,” Robert Holloway said in reference to the surgery that kept Woods out of tournaments for almost all of 2008. “I think he was just messing with them the first couple of tournaments [this year].”

Holloway, a former Maplesville football player that took up golf as new avenue for his competitiveness, said Woods’ resurgence would be good for the sport.

One golfer at the country club, though, wasn’t sold on Woods’ health.

“In my opinion, he’s not 100 percent, even though he’s still the best clutch player of all time,” Jerrod McCord said.

Instead of Woods, McCord picked Geoff Ogilvy to win the Masters.

“He’s playing good golf, he’s in contention every week…but it’s still a long shot,” McCord said.