Tiger Woods to start off his PGA Tour season with Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February
Legendary Tiger Woods is all set to make a comeback at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am next month, his season-opener on the PGA Tour this year, and will be hoping to jolt to the top of the leaderboard right from the start.
Woods has not played in the Pro-Am event for the last ten years, apparently due to his dislike for the format.
He played the last of his Pro-Am events in 2000 and went over to card a major victory at the US Open in 2002, with a jaw-dropping lead of 15 strokes.
One of the probable reasons why Woods is coming back to play at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am is the persuasion by the sponsor of the event, the AT&T, which is also one of the leading sponsors of the Tiger Woods Foundation.
"I'm excited to start my PGA Tour season at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am," Woods said on his website this week.
"AT&T is a great partner to my Foundation, and I'm looking forward to playing in this event. I haven't been to this tournament lately, but I have a lot of good memories at Pebble. It will be fun going back. It's always been one of my favourite spots," he continued.
Woods made his last appearance at the scenic Pebble Beach Course at Monterey coast in California in the US Open in 2010, where Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell went over to card a thrilling victory.
Woods is currently off the hook. He has decided to lay back and start off his season on the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, starting January 26th.
Since his last appearance, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am has undergone several changes, which include the curtailment of the field from 180 to 156 players.
Moreover, while the event has been held in continuation in all these years, Poppy Hills Course was taken out of the venues and has been replaced by Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula.
Woods has been struggling to gain his former zenith in the sport and was finally able to make a breakthrough at the season-ending Chevron World Challenge in December 2011, bringing an end to a two-year long winless drought.
The year 2011 turned out to be a set of fiascos for the former world number one as he lurked in obscurity for the major part of the year, missing the cut in the PGA Championship in Atlanta.
He started off the year with some strong finishes, including the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson, Arizona, and carded a joint fourth at the Masters in Augusta National.
He went through a nerve-wrecking knee injury later in the year and had to withdraw from the opening round of the Players Championship, virtually limping off the course.
Woods shot back to a stunning form at the end of the year, performing brilliantly at the Australian Open and the President’s Cup, eventually closing the year with a stellar victory at Chevron World Challenge.
It will be interesting to watch Woods struggle to keep up with his newly gained form and improved putting. Pebble Beach Pro-Am is scheduled to start from February 9.
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