Tiger Woods Will Play At Masters Tournament

Golf superstar Tiger Woods confirmed this morning that he will play in the Masters Tournament, which begins on April 8, NPR, the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, MSNBC and other media are reporting.

As the AP reminds us all, rather diplomatically:

"He last played Nov. 15 when he won the Australian Masters. Less than two weeks later, he crashed his car into a tree outside his Florida home, setting off revelations that he had been cheating on his wife."

We'll be adding to this post. Be sure to hit your "refresh" button to see our latest changes.

Update at 12:30 p.m. ET. NPR's Tom Goldman says that getting back to playing golf is the best thing Woods can do to restore at least some of his image — especially if he plays as well in coming years as he has in the past.

As Tom says, Woods "is 34 years old, he's a young man; he's got a good 15 years more of dominating this game, perhaps even more. ... With winning ... (fans) are very forgiving. You can see (that) 10 years down the road if Tiger Woods continues as he's been going through the first part of his career that while this whole scandal won't be forgotten, it certainly won't be the first thing people think of when they think of Tiger Woods":

Update at 11:39 a.m. ET. Woods' statement is now up on his website. He also says:

"When I finally got into a position to think about competitive golf again, it became apparent to me that the Masters would be the earliest I could play."

Update at 11:30 a.m. ET. ESPN.com has excerpts from Woods' statement. He says:

"The major championships have always been a special focus in my career and, as a professional, I think Augusta is where I need to be, even though it's been a while since I last played. ...

"I have undergone almost two months of inpatient therapy and I am continuing my treatment. ... Although I'm returning to competition, I still have a lot of work to do in my personal life."