Tiger to Start His 2015 Season at Phoenix Open


The year's best-attended tournament on the PGA Tour, the Waste Management Phoenix Open, got a shot in the arm Friday when Tiger Woods announced on his website that he'll be making his 2015 competitive debut in the event.

The tournament at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona already gets, by far, the largest attendance numbers in golf. The 2014 event set an all-time Tour record with 563,008 people streaming into the site.

The Waste Management Phoenix Open will be held January 29 through February 1 at the newly renovated TPC Scottsdale. The course reopened in November following an extensive remodel overseen by Tom Weiskopf. The project involved a resurfacing of all greens; the relocation of select greens, tees, and bunkers; a reshaping of bunkers and tee complexes; new cart paths; desert landscaping enhancements; and a new irrigation system.

Woods also said he will play the week after the Phoenix Open at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines near San Diego, a tournament he's won seven times, with his most recent title coming in 2013 when he totaled five victories and rose to No. 1 in the world.

The South Course at Torrey Pines is also the site where Woods secured the most recent of his 14 major titles in the 2008 U.S. Open.

Following an injury-plagued 2014 season that saw him make only nine starts worldwide - including just seven on the PGA Tour - Woods has successfully rehabilitated his surgically-repaired back and is looking forward to playing a full schedule this year.

"It will be great to return to Phoenix," said the 79-time Tour winner. "The crowds are amazing and always enthusiastic, and the 16th hole is pretty unique in golf.

"Torrey is a very important place to me," he added. "My pop took me there when I was younger, and I have a lot of special memories of watching the Tour play there when I was growing up."

It will be his first return to the Waste Management Phoenix Open since 2001. In his three previous starts, Woods finished in the top-five twice, including third place in 1999 and a T-5 in 2001. In 1997, his ace at the rowdy, amphitheater-like par-3 16th hole electrified the huge gallery.

The 2015 Phoenix Open will be Woods's first tournament since he finished tied for last at the 18-player Hero World Challenge last month.