Tiger's season starts at the Masters. He'd love a win, but it would only make people talk more and it wouldn't silence the uncertainty, even against this field. Don't expect him to be in serious form until then, ditto for the other top players. This is the start of a lot of their seasons, so don't expect sharp play.
The tournament itself probably won't be worth watching, given the amount of rust a lot of these players have. It's the UAE's versions of Donald Trump attracting top names by waving large stacks of money around, trying to make the UAE the definitive luxury destination and attract rich players to the courses. The golfers obviously show up, and many of them may decide to buy property there for vacations. The Tiger factor is enough to make the tourney a big to do, even the Frys.com open got a lot of attention, and that's not exactly a major.
Probably will be a better event this year than Kapalua, that course and event is a huge yawn. If it were to take place during a non golf-starved period of the season, no one would watch either. I hope the course is better than Kapalua though, watching the winning players of 2011 play golf on the side of a volcano is less awesome than it sounds, by a lot.
