Woods Shifts Sights to Dubai


Tiger Woods didn't dwell too long on his poor performance in the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open last Saturday. Coming off a 7-over 79 that caused him to miss the secondary (54-hole) cut in the PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines - a place where he's won eight times, the top-ranked player in the world went to his Florida home for a brief stop before heading off to Dubai.

Woods is playing this week in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, a European Tour event that starts Thursday at Emirates Golf Club. He'll be paired in the first round with Rory McIlroy and Stephen Gallacher.

After a round that involved two double-bogeys, seven bogeys and four birdies on Torrey Pines' South course - site of his last major victory, the 2008 U.S. Open, Woods got in a practice round on Tuesday in Dubai.

When asked on Tuesday whether he made any adjustments since the South course debacle, Woods said: "I didn't change anything. I went home and had a nice day off, worked on my putting a little bit in the backyard, and that was it. I know I'm not that far off. Just had one day and that happens.

"I was swinging well until - even that shot I hit on 18 there on the third round was right at the flag, between 3 iron and 5 wood, tried to chip a 5 wood in there and hit it short in the water and snowballed from there. But I hit a lot of good shots to that point and then struggled to the next stretch, but you know, that's, unfortunately, the longer you play this sport, the more things like that happen."

It looks like Woods - after Dubai - won't play again for a month. The reason is that, with a year-round season now, the PGA Tour has too many tournaments to attract all the players. Woods is known for limiting his schedule in recent years.

"The year basically gets pretty congested starting at the British Open," Woods said Wednesday following the pro-am round in Dubai. "I take [the week of the Canadian Open] off, but then it's Firestone (WGC-Bridgestone), then a week off, then all four playoff events, and then for the Americans there's a Ryder Cup or a Presidents Cup every year.

"And now with this new wraparound schedule [on the PGA Tour] going on, I think we're all trying to get our heads literally wrapped around it and trying to get a feel for it. It's very different."

Woods' next tournament is likely the Honda Classic, the WGC-Cadillac Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational - the latter two of which he won last year among his five titles, followed by the Masters in April. After Dubai, he heads to Delhi, India, for a corporate exhibition.

Woods isn't the only one adjusting to the PGA Tour's new compressed schedule. No. 2-ranked Adam Scott is in the middle of a six-week vacation, and Steve Stricker - who, in 2013, entered only a limited number of tournaments, won't start his season until the WGC-Match Play in mid-February.