The last time Tiger Woods played the Honda Classic, he hadn’t even won a U.S. Amateur yet. It was 1993, and the tournament was held at Westin Hills G&CC in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Tiger missed the cut. Still, there’s good reason to like Tiger’s chances when he rejoins the Honda field at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in a couple of weeks. Speaking with the Palm Beach Post, Tommy Roy, NBC Sports’s top golf producer, noted:

“…I think this golf course is right in his wheelhouse.

“If you look at the stats through the years, the leaders always play the Bear Trap well. Those three holes [Nos. 15-17] require cut shots most of the time, depending on the wind, and that's playing right into Tiger's strength with the power cut that he's playing. The other factor is that he always putts well on Bermuda greens.

"It would seem this golf course is almost perfect for him."

Finchem on the Tiger Effect

The Honda will benefit from Tiger’s presence, but Tim Finchem continues to preach that TW’s not essential to the success of the Tour. Earlier this week the commish told Jill Painter of the L.A. Daily News:

"It's always good to have everybody play. Tiger has gotten into a schedule that in his mind works, and we have a great respect for that. It stands out when the best player over the last 15 years doesn't have a tournament on his schedule. Tiger Woods is bigger than life.

"People are surprised to learn Tiger plays in one of three events on average. And yet, over the last 15 years, all of our tournaments have grown. While it's nice [if Woods plays], it's not fundamental."

Mr. Commissioner, you might want to see these numbers

The Tour may not flat-line when Tiger stays home, but as has been well documented, TV ratings suffer. Matt Yoder at awfulannouncing.com underscored that point by delving deep into the ratings of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which enjoyed a huge boost with Charlie Wi Tiger Woods in the mix last Sunday.

It's only one tournament examined in a vacuum, but the ratings data from Pebble Beach tell an interesting story. Here are the numbers since 2000 of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am (thanks to the acclaimed person behind TVSportsRatings, whoever he or she is) with the total average number of viewers for CBS's weekend coverage and what it means for the PGA Tour... 

2000 4.1
2001 5.9 
2002 4.5 
2003 4.1 
2004 4.1 
2005 5.0 
2006 3.3 
2007 3.6 
2008 2.9 
2009 1.6 
2010 1.9 
2011 2.9 
2012 5.7

A few takeaways from those numbers...

*Tiger Woods made his first appearance this year at Pebble Beach for the early season tournament since 2002. Woods played at Pebble Beach in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2012. The average number of viewers for those 4 tournaments was 5.05 million, including a Monday finish in 2000 (thus the low 4.1 number). The average number of viewers for the 9 tournaments Tiger didn't play at Pebble from 2003-2011? Just 3.27 million. That's an increase of 54% for Pebble Beach when Tiger has played since 2000.

…As long as the PGA Tour is so utterly dependent on Woods for ratings success, how can they expect to be healthier without Tiger's presence? Even in 2012, it's a question the PGA Tour is still seeking an answer to.

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LA traffic is 3rd World-esque.

— Joe Ogilvie (@ogilviej) February 17, 2012

Looks like even Tiger Woods has given up on that vaunted “intimidation factor.”

As part of the buildup to the release of his Tiger Woods EA Sports PGA Tour 13 video game, Woods has posted some of his childhood pics on Facebook. And, yes, they’re adorable.

The new gimmick in this year’s edition of the popular golf game is the “Tiger Legacy Challenge” mode, where you can compete as Tiger throughout all the eras of his career: from junior golf through his amateur titles to the Tiger slam. You can even hear Tiger’s father, Earl, yelling at Tiger while he gets ready to swing to sharpen his son’s focus. Here’s a video preview:

Woods also gave some interviews to EA Sports about his childhood, where he talks about his father and his memories of his famous appearance on “The Mike Douglas Show” as a 2-year-old, and what “Tiger par” was growing up.

Tiger Woods EA Sports PGA Tour 13 is scheduled for U.S. release on March 27, the same day as former coach Hank Haney’s book about his time with Tiger, “The Big Miss.” The regular edition is $59.99 on Xbox 360 and PS3; the special Masters Collector's Edition is $69.99.

Golf replaces skiing as winter sport in mild Northeast winter
Bloomberg News reports on golf’s emergence as a winter sport in the unseasonably mild Northeastern U.S. this season.

Without snow in metropolitan areas, Northeast golf courses have capitalized, drawing players throughout the winter and doing maintenance and renovation months earlier than normal.

The Mattawang Golf Club, a semi-private course in Belle Mead, New Jersey, hosted almost 1,000 rounds in January, including one 60-degree Saturday on which the course drew 190 golfers, said Mahlon Dow, the club’s head professional and manager.

“That’s a good number in June,” Dow said in a telephone interview. “It looks like October out there.”

Ernie Els: Take my belly putter, please
Ernie Els joined Tiger Woods in calling for a ban on belly putters this week at the Northern Trust. One difference though: Els is actually using a belly putter. He explains:

Q. You mentioned the short putter. The USGA has said they're taking a fresh look at the belly putter, long putter, anchoring. Do you welcome that? What do you think about that?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I think so. Although I've used it, I've used it for, what, six months now, I feel the same as most of the traditionalists. I feel that no club should be anchored to your body. I don't know how they're going to go around it, maybe use a putter as long as you want as long as it's not anchored to your body any way, even up your arm. You see a lot of the guys use it in their armpits now. Nothing should be anchored to your body, and I believe I still believe that. I was in such a state that I felt that I needed to change something, which I did. I went to the belly. It hasn't really helped me that much, but it has helped me. But I'm for it. Ban it. It's fine.

Tweets of the Day

If you exit Riviera CC and go right a half mile, that's where OJ's house was. A little further down is Nicole's.

— Stewart Cink (@stewartcink) February 15, 2012

This is a photo hanging in Rivera.40's or early 50's. People having been putting like this for a very long time! twitter.com/Keegan_Bradley…

— Keegan Bradley (@Keegan_Bradley) February 15, 2012

Yet another Tiger Woods Sunday meltdown has pundits, fans, and players alike wondering if the former No. 1 will ever get his mojo back. His Sean Foley swing looks pretty solid these days, but his inability to get the job done on Sunday raises questions about the direction Tiger is moving. Lee Trevino, who has never been afraid to voice his opinion, thinks the answer to Woods's woes is pretty simple -- go back to Butch Harmon. 

"I would call a Realtor in Henderson, Nevada, and I'd find out where Butch lived and I'd buy the house next door," said Trevino, appearing on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's Galloway & Company on Monday afternoon. "I'd go over and ring the doorbell and say, 'Hi, neighbor,' and get back with Butch. That's exactly what I would do."

As everyone knows, Butch Harmon and Tiger worked together from his amateur days until 2002, during which time Eldrick bagged eight majors while completely dominating the game of golf. And as everyone also knows, Harmon currently coaches Phil Mickelson, who has beat up on Tiger in recent years, including last Sunday. Harmon has tightened Phil's swing in a -- no pun intended -- major way. According to Trevino, winner of six majors during his career, it's time for the two former friends to "bury the hatchet," and get back together. 

"I'm sure there's bad blood there, at least that's what I've heard," Trevino said. "I haven't talked to Butch in years, so I don't know how he feels with Tiger and I don't know if Tiger is too proud to ask for the help and if he asked for help if Butch would give it to him. But I think they speak to each other when they see each other at tournaments. If they do that, I don't see why two grown people can't sit down. He's all messed up right now."

Donald, Westwood, McIlroy and Kaymer are top seeds in Match Play event 

The qualifying period for the WGC-Accenture Match Play is now over and the field is pretty well set. No's 1-4 in the world, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer will grab the top seeds in each of the four brackets, while Ernie Els, who was on the outside looking in at 65th in the world, has just managed to slip into the tournament via Phil Mickelson's decision to skip the event. Other big names who were not so lucky include Ryan Moore at 67th, Robert Allenby at 68th, and Charles Howell III at 70th. 

Rafael Cabrera-Bello, who just won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic by holding off Westwood, moved up to 60th in the world from 119th to earn his first bid in the prestigious event. Nicolas Colsaerts also played well this past weekend and managed to grab the final 64th spot, knocking Ernie Els temporarily out of the field. Other notables who qualified for the Tucson event include Kevin Na at 62nd, Matteo Manassero at 61st, Jim Furyk at 59th, and Tiger-slayer Robert Rock at 58th. 

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Tiger Woods announced he would play the Honda Classic (March 1-March 4) in a statement on his website. It will be the first time he's played the event at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

The announcement means that Woods will have a busier-than-normal early season. His next tournament is the Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson (Feb. 22-Feb. 26). Woods also announced that he will be playing in the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami the week after the Honda Classic, meaning he will play for three consecutive weeks.

"I'm excited about my start and look forward to keep building," Woods said in a written statement. "I've made great strides from last year and hopefully all my hard work will pay off with a victory soon."

Woods is also expected to play the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Orlando's Bay Hill, which begins March 22. If he doesn't add any more events, Bay Hill will be Woods's final appearance before the Masters, which begins April 5.

The Honda Classic will be a home game for Woods, who recently moved to the Palm Beach area. It is known as one of the toughest events on the PGA Tour, and had the highest scoring average of any non-major PGA Tour event last year.

"I've heard great things about the Honda Classic, and now that I live here, I want to play whenever possible," Woods said. "Jack's [Nicklaus] involvement in the tournament and the benefits to the local community are also important."

(Photo: Robert Beck/SI)

CBS reported having the highest ratings in 15 years during the final-round coverage of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, according to Geoff Schackelford.

CBS Sports’ final-round coverage of the AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AM on Sunday, Feb. 12 (3:15-6:30 PM, ET), which saw Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods paired together with Mickelson firing a 64 to win his fourth Pebble Beach title, delivered the highest rating for the final round at Pebble Beach in 15 years (5.8/13; Feb. 2, 1997) with an average overnight household rating/share of 5.1/10, up 96% from last year’s 2.6/6 in the metered markets.

Unfortunately, what golf fans thought was going to be final-round coverage from Pebble was actually college basketball. CBS broadcasted the end of the Illinois and Michigan game before finally switching over to Pebble Beach. How did upset fans voice their anger for the delay? According to Golf Digest, Twitter was the medium. 

Onlooker speaks up

At this weekend's Women's Australian Open in Melbourne, a spectator from the crowd spoke up and saved Karrie Webb from making a big mistake. According to The Age, on the 13th green fellow opponent Yani Tseng asked Webb to move her marker one putter-head length to the side to clear her line. After Tseng putted, Webb went to move her marker back but in the wrong direction. She was about to pull the trigger when a man yelled: "Excuse me!"

''I just blanked it. I don't even remember moving it the other way, but I guess I moved it the other way. About 15 people standing on the other side of the hole (said). I was just about to pull the trigger and he spoke up. Which really caught me off-guard. In the end it saved a two-shot penalty. It was quite courageous of him, to speak up, and I'm thankful for it.''

Webb waltzed over to the man, a local club golfer, and handed him her golf ball after putting out. ''It saved me a couple of shots,'' she said later.

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Phil Mickelson is now undefeated vs. Tiger in their last 5 final head-to-head rounds. He's Tom Coughlin and Tiger is Bill Belichick.

— Rick Reilly (@ReillyRick) February 13, 2012

When Phil Mickelson started the final round at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, he seemed like a long shot to win the event. By the time he finished the front nine, he seemed like a lock. 

Mickelson was nine under, six shots behind leader Charlie Wi, after 54 holes, but he charged out of the gate with birdies on three of the first five holes and an eagle on the par-5 sixth. As Mickelson climbed the leaderboard with a 31 on the front to get to 14 under, his competitors fell all around him.

Wi four-putted the first hole for a double bogey and was 12 under after going out in 39. Tiger Woods, paired with Mickelson in the second-to-last group, bogeyed the last three holes on the front nine to fall to nine under. Duke also fell back with a front-nine 37.

Mickelson never let up, shooting a bogey-free 64 to finish 17 under, two shots clear of Wi. It was Mickelson's 40th PGA Tour victory and his fourth win at this event.

Woods, whose game has showed improvement in recent months, was again unable to finish a tournament with a victory. His three-over 75 left him at eight under, tied for 15th.

When asked about playing with Woods, Mickelson said it helped.

"I am inpsired playing with him, and I think most people are," Mickelson said. "He seems to bring out the best in me."

When asked about Woods's game, he was complimentary.

"He was hitting it so solid, you could tell his game was really close," Mickelson said.

More on Mickelson's win | Round 4 photos

(Photo: Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Golf Magazine's Mike Walker is live blogging the final round of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Mobile users, copy this link into your browser, http://bit.ly/x97q2X

Leaderboard | Round 4 Photos | Like Us on Facebook | Follow on Twitter

After his round on Friday, Tiger Woods said he just needed a few putts to drop.

He got his wish on Saturday.

Starting on the back nine at Pebble Beach, Woods birdied five of six holes to go out in 32. He added one more birdie coming in to shoot a five-under 67, and Woods finished four strokes behind leader Charlie Wi heading into the final round on Sunday. He will play with Phil Mickelson (nine under) at 12:28 p.m. ET on Sunday.

"Today the putts went in," Woods said. "It was a nice little run."

Ken Duke fired a bogey-free 65 to move into second place, three shots behind Wi.

Wi has a nice lead, but he's never won on the PGA Tour, and he'll have a large group of superstars chasing him on Sunday.

One of those names will be Woods. After his lone bogey on No. 12, Woods caught fire with birdies on Nos. 13, 14, 15, 17 and 18. His birdie run brought back memories of his most-dominant performance, a 15-shot win at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, one of the greatest performances in the history of the game.

Woods has not won an official event since the 2009 Australian Masters. He did win his charity event, the Chevron World Challenge, in December, and he has almost looked like his old self ever since. In his first event this year, Woods tied for third at the Abu Dhabi Championship on the European Tour.

In his first two rounds this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, his first PGA Tour event of the season, Woods's ballstriking was solid but putts weren't dropping. On Saturday he needed only 27 putts, six fewer than he recorded on Friday. Woods will need a few more putts to drop on Sunday if he wants to beat a stellar field and head home with another trophy from Pebble Beach.

"It's going to be really fun," Woods said.

More Tiger: Tiger's Life in Pictures | Tiger's SI Covers | Tiger Homepage

(Credit: Allan Henry/US PRESSWIRE)

The golf world has been wondering for a couple of years now whether or not Tiger will ever regain his dominance, and for good reason. When Tiger's in the field TV ratings are often close to 50 percent higher than when he's not. There's arguably never been a golfer, let alone any professional athlete, that's captivated the general public's attention like Eldrick. If he fades away to journeyman status the game of golf and the many businesses that surround it will suffer. If he can reproduce some of his former glory everyone around the game, including the fans, will benefit greatly. So will he or won't he? According to USA Today, opinions vary: 

"I honestly don't think there is a reason why he won't get back to No. 1 and being the best again," says Keegan Bradley, reigning PGA Championship winner and 2011 PGA Tour rookie of the year. "He's going to find a way."

"I don't know if he will rule the roost anymore," Dustin Johnson says. "He has struggled, but he's been injured. And he's had a few incidents that have thrown him for a loop. But I think he has everything back on track. He will be a force, I'm sure. He is one guy you are going to have to beat out here. But there are a lot of other guys you're going to have to beat, as well."

Interesting that two young PGA Tour superstars have such different opinions, but together they represent what most golf fans probably think -- "Tiger's healthy again and will do what he's always done," or, "Tiger's going to get some more wins but he'll never dominate again." Delving further into the debate, Steve DiMeglio of USA Today offers nine reasons why Tiger will or won't be king. The No. 1 question? Injuries, of course. 

1. Insult to injuries

PRO: "I've been able to train again," Woods says. "Rehabbing and training are two totally different scenarios. I've been rehabbing pretty much the entire last couple of years. Now I'm healthy enough to train without issue. My body's feeling explosive again. … I can literally train all day now."

CON: His left knee. Dating to 1994, when he had two benign tumors removed and scar tissues repaired, he's had four operations on his knee, including a major reconstruction in 2008 after he won the U.S. Open. "That's the only worry," CBS golf analyst David Feherty says. " For a right-handed player, there is probably no such worse problem you can have. Your frame has to absorb that shock of the swing, and all the energy dissipates into the left knee area."

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The newest version of EA's Tiger Woods video game franchise, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 13, includes a new feature called the Tiger Legacy Challenge. Gamers will get to play as Tiger at various ages and re-create his most memorable milestones, from a 2-year-old Woods in his backyard and on The Mike Douglas Show to the U.S. Amateur to his rookie season on Tour to the present day. Check out the videos below to see the video game version of Woods grow up before your eyes and other scenes from the game, which will be available March 27. See more images in this gallery of screengrabs.

The game will also feature new courses, including PGA National.

Here's Woods himself testing the game on Kinect.