When it was announced that the new version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour would feature the Masters and the Augusta National Golf Club, no one was more excited than I. As a golfer, a watcher of golf, and a gamer, I had hoped for years that somehow EA would manage to convince the powers that be at Augusta that it would be beneficial for everyone involved to have one of the premiere golf courses in the world included on the premiere golf simulation franchise.
EA Sports' tagline has been "if it's in the game, it's in the game," and as one of the four Majors of the PGA Tour, not having the Masters in the game was a problem. After playing the new version of Tiger Woods, which is burdened with the somewhat unwieldy name of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: the Masters, I am now a little worried that having the Masters in the game is something of a problem.
For this latest version of the franchise, the career mode—the meat and potatoes of the game—has been revamped and retitled, it is now "The Road to the Masters" and everything that you do as a golfer in the game is about getting to the Masters. As a huge fan of the simulation aspects of Tiger Woods, I have
loved the versions which featured a nice calendar and where, once you made your way up from the Nationwide Tour to the PGA Tour you would play in events that mimicked those the pros were playing in on any given week of the calendar year. For several iterations, EA Sports seemed to make sure as best they could that whatever courses the US Open, British Open, and PGA Championship were at that year were included in the title and so when you went to play those Majors you were playing at the correct course. Add to that the fact that you could go online during those weekends and simulate the real world weather conditions at the event and have your score compared to those of the pros, and it was simulation golf heaven (even if I could belt a 320 yard shot down the middle of the fairway, which is nothing I could ever hope to accomplish in real life).
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