Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
As rumours continue to circulate as to when exactly golf's greatest player will return to tournament action, the pack behind him is gathering momentum.
There was fierce speculation that Tiger may even play next week in Arizona at the WGC Match Play but the deadline for confirming entries has now passed and the rumours are now set to continue until he puts a concrete date in the diary.
Most likely, it seems, it is either the CA Championship in Miami (March 11-14) or the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando two weeks later. Woods could opt for a more low-key comeback at the unofficial - and private - Tavistock Cup match on his home course Isleworth in Florida on March 22-23.
Whenever he decides to reappear it will of course start tremendous media frenzy around the tournament. It was in this event that he returned from his knee surgery last year and the match play format does certainly take a bit of pressure off as you are playing only one man at a time, not 150!
It needs to happen sooner rather than later in my opinion, and the longer he leaves it the more difficult it will be to come back.
We have a new world number two after Steve Stricker held off a determined challenge from Luke Donald to win the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. The American carded a final-round 70, amazingly his worst of the year so far, to finish on 16 under for the event, two shots clear of his nearest rival.
Stricker's success means he not only now heads the FedEx Cup standings but also moves above Phil Mickelson to number two in the world rankings. It is an amazing turnaround in fortunes for a man who lost his Tour Card in 2004 and seemed to be drifting into the golfing wilderness. It is a fantastic achievement to come back from that far to where he is now, virtually at golf's summit.
Another man who has come back from the brink in recent years is European number one Lee Westwood. He insists he is not overly concerned about his failure to convert winning positions into tournament victories at the start of his 2010 campaign.
Westwood followed his third place at the Qatar Masters last week with an agonising play-off defeat to Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez at the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday. Victory would have propelled him up to third in the world, relegating Mickelson still further, but as his game gains momentum it is even bigger targets that he is aiming for.
The Englishman let a two-shot final round lead slip before being edged out at the third extra hole having already missed two championship putts himself. But he has always regarded the three-event 'Gulf Swing' as his 'pre-season' following his hectic end to the 2009 campaign when he clinched the inaugural Race to Dubai crown.
He will shortly head to America for the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship later this month which marks the start of his build-up to the year's first major - April's Masters at Augusta. He keeps accumulating world ranking points, working on his fitness and gradually week by week the rustiness from his winter break makes way for match sharpness.
He is still hitting great golf shots, but add his World Championship mental toughness and we can expect great things from the Worksop man over the next few months.
Woods's absence from the match play, combined with that of world number three Mickelson, means places in the 64-man field for Britain's Chris Wood and Ross McGowan. They are currently ranked 65th and 66th in the world, respectively.
McGowan will face American top seed Steve Stricker in next Wednesday's first round and Wood will meet stable mate Westwood, now the second seed.
More fun in the desert to come then in the Arizona heat as the world's best, minus a couple, battle it out for the title of WGC Match Play champion - a victory that would taste better I'm sure should Woods and Mickelson have been in the draw.
