The Masters: Every Masters offers a blend of nostalgia and drama.

Every Masters offers a blend of nostalgia and drama. For a tournament that has been a PGA Tour staple since 1934, both elements are as essential to the overall package as pink azaleas and undulating greens.

But the 2011 Masters offers two unique twists. The dramatic development: Tiger Woods, golf ‘s most dominant player for the past 15 years, heads into tournament week at No. 5 in the world golf rankings – his lowest pretournament spot since 1997, when he was No. 13 and won the event by 12 strokes as a 21-year-old.

The nostalgic undertone: This marks the 25th anniversary of Jack Nicklaus’s 1986 charge to his 18th – and final – major title as a pro golfer. Nicklaus, 46 at the time, won the 1986 Masters in comeback fashion with his son, Jackie, as his caddie.

Woods, a four-time Masters champ, has not won a PGA Tour event since the 2009 season and has not added to his 14 major titles since the 2008 U.S. Open. Can he recapture his winning edge this week?

ESPN golf analyst Curtis Strange, a two-time U.S. Open champ, is adopting a waitand-see approach in light of Woods’s latest round of swing changes following 2009 revelations of extramarital relations that led to Woods’s divorce last year.

“He’s not the same player he was before,” Strange said. “He’s not the same person, either … which affects your game. He’ll win majors again. But I wouldn’t expect a lot (this week).”

Masters rookies: The 2011 Masters field features 19 firsttime participants. The list includes Jason Day, a native of Australia, and U.S. Amateur champ Peter Uihlein, a college golfer at Oklahoma State in contention for the 2011 Ben Hogan Award.

The 2011 Masters rookies: Arjun Atwal, David Chung, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Hiroyuki Fujita, Peter Hanson, Gregory Havret, Charley Hoffman, Jin Jeong, Kyung-Tae Kim, Lion Kim, Martin Laird, Hideki Matsuyama, Jeff Overton, D.A. Points, Kevin Streelman, Peter Uihlein, Jhonattan Vegas and Mark Wilson.