Tiger Sets Schedule

Though he's bypassing this week's Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club, Tiger Woods will see his schedule pick right back up in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, February 22-26, at the Ritz-Carlton GC, Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz.

Woods is a three-time winner of the event, which features a 64-man field comprised of the world's top-ranked players and a total purse of $8.5 million. No. 1-ranked Luke Donald is the defending champion. Woods won the tournament in 2003, '04 and '08, and was runner-up in 2000.

Following the Match Play, Woods is entered in the Honda Classic for the first time since he was an amateur. The $5.7 million event will be held at PGA National Resort & Spa Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., which is located near where Woods recently moved.

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

After the Honda he will compete in the $8.5 million WGC-Cadillac Championship on the TPC Blue Monster course at Doral in Miami. He is an eight-time winner of the tournament, with the most recent victory in 2007.

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

Woods' return to the PGA Tour has certainly boosted television ratings. His final-round pairing in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am resulted in a 113 percent increase in viewers over the previous year for CBS Sports. The Sunday broadcast averaged 7.4 million viewers, the highest average for the tournament's final round since 1989, when 7.7 million watched Mark O'Meara win.

Sunday's coverage on CBS also delivered the highest rating for the final round at Pebble Beach in 11 years, and was the most-watched and highest-rated final round of a golf tournament - excluding the majors -since the 2007 Buick Invitational.

Tweet