PEBBLE BEACH, Calif., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Tiger Woods will make his 2012 American debut Thursday, ready to put in a full season in a bid to resume his assault on the golfing record book.
Woods will play at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which will be contested as usual on three courses along the Pacific Ocean on the Monterey Peninsula. He has not won on the PGA Tour since September of 2009 at the BMW Championship, one of the playoff events leading up to the Tour Championship.
Due to injuries last year, Woods played all 72 holes in a tournament only twice after the Masters -- finishing tied for 37th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August and tied for 30th at the Frys.com Open in October.
He comes into this week's tournament ranked 18th in the world, having made a climb back into the top 20 after a strong finish two weeks ago against an elite field in the Middle East. He has 14 major championships, four short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus, but has not won one since the 2008 U.S. Open.
Woods will team up with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo in the pro-am portion of the event. Romo is one of a host of golfers who will give this year's tournament a football flair.
The coaches who led the last two teams the New York Giants defeated en route to their Super Bowl crown are scheduled to play. San Francisco's Jim Harbaugh will team with Ryan Moore and New England's Bill Belichick is set to play with Ricky Barnes.
Nick Saban, coach of the national champion Alabama Crimson Tide, will be paired with former Alabama golfer and PGA Tour rookie Bud Cauley. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers will compete along with D.J. Trahan.
The two most recent events on the tour have resulted in huge Sunday comebacks with Brandt Snedeker rallying to defeat Kyle Stanley at Torrey Pines and Stanley making up a 10-shot deficit to down Spencer Levin in Arizona.
Levin is playing at Pebble Beach, but Stanley is taking a week off.
