Tiger Woods likely to play Waste Management Phoenix Open, according to report

The biggest draw in golf, Tiger Woods, may make a surprise addition to his schedule and play the Waste Management Phoenix Open at the end of January, according to a report from Golf.com.

At age 39 and with almost two decades out on the PGA Tour, it’s become pretty easy to predict Tiger’s schedule. He’s honed it down to a select few events and venues where he’s most comfortable, settling into a plan over the last decade that he feels best prepares him for the majors and most important events. His schedule is almost never heavy at the start of the season on the annual West Coast swing. He typically plays the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, and that’s about it (there’s been an occasional appearance at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am). He plays when he wants and blesses the tournaments he wants, which has been scant few above the minimum required to stay an active member on the PGA Tour.

The Phoenix Open has not been on Tiger’s schedule in 13 years, but the report from Golf.com indicates that he’s made preparations to enter and is “likely” to play. They cite two sources, one relaying that Tiger has reserved his courtesy car for the tournament and another that stated he’s booked rooms at a nearby Four Seasons hotel.

Woods is notorious for waiting until the final minute of the deadline to inform both the PGA Tour and tournament officials that he’s registering for a tournament. This is the case even with the events we know he’s going to play, like the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron. So it’s probable that official word of Tiger’s commitment won’t come until the Friday before Phoenix Open week, the deadline on January 23.

The Phoenix Open features the largest, rowdiest crowds on the PGA Tour. The infamous 16th hole has become the biggest party in the sport. Tiger’s hole-in-one there in 1997, back when it was a more organic party and the hole was not enclosed by grandstands and skyboxes, only added to the history of the par-3 and is one of the most famous highlights of his early career. The entire tee box was promptly showered with beer cans back then, and the crowds have only grown and become more rowdy (and more creative) since then.

It’s also the tournament where he enlisted a cadre of fans to help move a boulder (technically a loose impediment) to aid a shot from the desert in 1999. The move was legal but it still draws criticism.

As Golf.com notes, however, Woods has not returned to the event since an unruly and presumably over-served fan threw an orange onto the green as Woods was putting in 2001.

The tournament already generates plenty of highlights and enormous crowds, but adding Tiger, the singular draw in golf and game-changing moneymaker for tournaments, would amplify an already wild atmosphere. It would also be a nice lead-in spotlight for the sport and the PGA Tour before the Super Bowl, which is right down the road in Glendale this year.

With Tiger barely playing last season on the PGA Tour -- he played all four rounds in just two official Tour events -- the expectation was that he might add a tournament or two early in the season to get some reps and work on his new “old” swing under new consultant Chris Como. He’s not expected to make any appearances in the Middle East on the Euro Tour, which he has done in most recent seasons. An added stop on the West Coast swing was the most likely change in the schedule. If he does show up at TPC Scottsdale, he’ll likely play back-to-back weeks, making the usual stop at Torrey Pines right after Phoenix. Those two tournaments, combined with the usual stints on the Florida Swing at the Honda Classic, Doral, and Bay Hill, would give him five competitive starts before the Masters.