Martin Dempster: Crowds still rolling up for glimpse of toiling Tiger

A year ago, when Rocco Mediate claimed the title, the event attracted about 30,000 spectators over the course of the week. More than double that is expected this time around at Californian course CordeValle, where the presence of Woods has sent everything connected with the event into overdrive.

Corporate hospitality packages were snapped up in a flash the moment the former world No 1 announced his participation, while the PGA Tour was flooded with more than 300 requests for media credentials, which is three times as many as last year.

Normally, Woods wouldn’t have touched a Fall Series event with a bargepole. At this time of the year, his campaign would usually be pretty much wrapped up, apart from the odd end-of-season event like the HSBC Champions in Shanghai and, of course, his own tournament just before Christmas in California.

However, there’s very little that has been normal with Woods over the last two years. He’s not a current champion, hence his absence from this year’s HSBC event. Indeed, there’s a fair chance he’d not have been seen again this season if it hadn’t been for the Presidents Cup.

He’s playing this week purely and simply as a warm-up for the cosier version of the Ryder Cup, having been handed a wild card – a controversial one in the eyes of many – by Freddie Couples for that event in Australia in just over a month’s time.

This week’s event is Tiger’s first appearance since the USPGA Championship in the middle of August. Our American cousins are salivating at the prospect of his return. It’s been noted, for example, that he shot a 62 in a recent bounce game at The Medalist, regarded as one of Florida’s toughest courses.

How Couples would love to see the 14-time major winner replicate that sort of score this week, having been criticised for handing Woods one of his picks at the expense of Keegan Bradley, winner of that USPGA Championship in Atlanta.

Having jumped on his private jet following the Dunhill Links, Ernie Els is also playing at CordeValle. So, too, is another former major winner, Angel Cabrera. Paul Casey, a surprise absentee in Scotland last week, is in the field as well, but none of them will get a look in. Despite the fact he’s in freefall, having slipped to 51st in the latest world rankings, there is still an undoubted fascination with Woods. The Golf Channel, which has the broadcasting rights for this week’s event, has reportedly been giving it the ‘major treatment’ in the build-up to Thursday’s first round.

It will be a first outing for Woods with his new caddie, Joe LaCava. The man who used to loop for Couples left Dustin Johnson to link up with Woods, who has been on the lookout for a new sidekick since his partnership with Steve Williams came to a bitter end.

Johnson has insisted he had no problems with LaCava’s decision, but one respected figure in the game reckons it had been made with dollar bills in mind as opposed to winning potential over the next few years.

“I guess he’s done it because he’s going to be well paid,” observed Ryder Cup-winning captain Bernard Gallacher. “I would have thought Dustin Johnson would have been a good bag to continue with. He’s an up-and-coming young player and looks as though he’s someone who would be easy to caddie for.

“Now LaCava will be in the spotlight all the time. He’d better not make any mistakes or the whole world will come down on him due to the attention that comes with Tiger.”

But for how long can Woods continue to attract that attention? With all due respect to the other players in the Frys.com Open field, there was once a time when Tiger could just about have beaten them with one hand tied behind his back.

These days, however, we just don’t know what to expect. In a way, that does make it fascinating. One thing for certain is that CordeValle, a fantastic venue with an excellent Robert Trent Jones Jnr-designed course, will be like a mad house over the next few days compared to the peace and quiet I enjoyed there during the recent PGA Cup.