Young: A Tiger return to Phoenix Open would make for Super weekend

The first day of February is going to be monstrous here in the Valley.

Super Bowl XLIX kicks off at University of Phoenix Stadium that day, and if it starts with an XL then you know it's big.

The big game starts not long after the final round of the Biggest Party on Grass, also known as the Waste Management Phoenix Open, winds down at the newly renovated TPC Scottsdale.

Oh, it's going to be huge.

We can't imagine what could make it any bigger other than, say, Tiger Woods making his return to the Phoenix Open for the first time since 2001.

No way you say?

Well, if ever Tiger was going to return, this might be the time and it is definitely not because we see his 0-5 Oakland Raiders somehow making their way to Glendale.

No, it's because in recent years Woods has played in the Middle East at that time of year, reportedly getting between $2 million and $3 million in appearance money to play the Abu Dhabi Championship and the Desert Classic in Dubai.

Those tournaments are part of the European Tour, which allows such appearance money. The PGA Tour doesn't.

And because the Desert Classic is scheduled opposite the WM Phoenix Open, the sponsoring Thunderbirds have had no luck in luring Tiger back to the TPC, where he has a lot of history including a hole in one at the par-3 16th in 1997 that raised that hole to iconic status.

But there also was the goof who heckled Woods and was wrestled to the ground a couple of years later. Police found that he had a gun in his fanny pack.

James Corrigan of The Telegraph reports that the Middle East tournaments have determined that Tiger no longer has the appeal to be worthy of the investment they've been making in him.

Rather than blow most of their appearance budget on one player, the tournaments evidently have decided to give more to other players, especially world No. 1 Rory McIlroy.

Tiger has slipped in the World Ranking and hasn't won a major championship since the 2008 U.S. Open. He's had knee surgeries, swing changes, a marriage breakup and, of course, a back procedure, since.

What better way for Tiger to send a message to those tournament organizers in the Middle East that he's back and they blew it than by stealing their thunder playing opposite their tournaments?

The Abu Dhabi Championship is played opposite the PGA Tour's Sony Open in Hawaii, and the Desert Classic in Dubai goes off opposite the Phoenix Open Jan. 29-Feb. 1.

Of course, Tiger might still skip Phoenix with the Farmers Insurance Open flipped to the week following Phoenix in 2015. Last season it fell a week prior to Phoenix.

Woods has won at Torrey Pines seven times and has made it a habit to begin his PGA Tour season there in recent years. But ... we're saying there's a chance.

Brothers for life

Speaking of Tiger, he provided a cool moment recently when he introduced his former Stanford teammate Notah Begay during the Stanford Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Begay.

Begay, a Native American who now works as a Golf Channel analyst, and Woods have been buddies since childhood, and Woods described their first meeting at a Junior World tournament in San Diego.

"I was nine years old, pretty hip with my Coke-bottle glasses," Woods mused. "At the time I was the only one of ethnic descent playing, and it was a tough and lonely road.

"Notah, being the elder statesman at 12, he came over to me and introduced himself. He says 'I'm Notah Begay. I am just like you. And you'll never be alone. You'll always have a friend.' And from that day on, we've been brothers for life."

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