Tiger Woods on Friday confirmed earlier reports that he will "begin his 2015 PGA Tour season at the Waste Management Phoenix Open," according to Coleman McDowell of GOLF.com. Woods also "committed to play the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines the following week" (GOLF.com, 1/9). In Phoenix, Andrew Joseph notes Woods has not played in the Waste Management Open since '01, when a fan "threw an orange onto the green while Woods was putting." That incident came two years after a fan "who heckled Woods was tackled to the ground by security and found to be in possession of a gun." With Woods returning to play the event "after a 13 year hiatus, and with the Super Bowl in town, this could be the best-attended Phoenix Open in history" (AZCENTRAL.com, 1/9). GOLFCHANNEL.com's Jason Sobel writes the "usual pandemonium outside the ropes" at the tournament likely will "seem like a serene stroll through an uninhabited wasteland compared to what's coming later this month." This is because Woods is "returning to golf's biggest party." Sobel: "This won't be a keg party anymore. It'll be Woodstock." Woods' return to the event "should come as a surprise for a multitude of reasons," including the fact that he has "made a practice of crossing tourneys off his annual schedule, not adding them" (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 1/9).
