A record crowd of 83,657 got to see Charles Warren grab the first-round lead at the FBR Open on Thursday, and as Larry Dorman writes in the New York Times, that's 10,657 more than the capacity for the 73,000-seat University of Phoenix Stadium, the site of Sunday?s Super Bowl. It's possible with the Super Bowl in town that attendance figures this week at TPC-Scottsdale will exceed the record 536,767 from 2006. One can only imagine how big the crowds would be if Tiger Woods were here.

Instead, Tiger's playing on the European Tour this week at the Dubai Desert Classic. Not surprisingly, he's leading the tournament after rounds of 65-71. Of the prominent names, Henrik Stenson (68-70) is two back, Sergio Garcia (68-71) three back and Ernie Els (68-72) four behind.

Bob Smiley, who's a TV writer and contributor to ESPN.com's golf coverage, wrote an entertaining piece about following Tiger on Thursday.

The best part is obvious, Smiley writes: There's no one here. Last week at the Buick, I had to buy an $85 periscope just to catch a glimpse of the greatest golfer in the world. So far in Dubai, the crowd is never more than one or two deep, which means all the things players say to each other that you normally can't hear, you can. The best line of the day came from Colin Montgomerie after Tiger drilled a drive on the 485-yard par-4 sixth hole. Monty waited until the ball came to a stop some 315 yards away, then said with a smirk, "This kid's got potential."
      The one rule that no one seems particularly worried about (except for Tiger's caddie Steve Williams) is the fact that almost everyone in the gallery has cameras. And not the little cameras people hide in their pockets in the U.S. I'm talking about big ones with 12-inch zooms. The most egregious rule breaker was the guy next to me on No. 10 who filmed Tiger's tee shot with both his video camera and still camera--at the same time.But to be fair, what can you expect when the crowd is almost 100 percent tourists? Unlike every other tournament in the world, no one here is actually from Dubai. People from India and England make up most of the crowd, but over the course of the round I pick up German, French, Chinese, even Russian. According to Ali, a Dubai-based Brit I meet along the 13th hole, golf is gaining popularity in Dubai, but at the end of the day most Arabs find golf "completely boring.
      The comment reminded me of my taxi driver from the airport. When he asked why I was here, I said, "to watch Tiger Woods," which was met with the surprising answer of "Who?" "Tiger Woods?" I said. And then, not believing I had to add it, "The golfer?"
      Finally, it clicked. "Ah. Yes," he said, then kept driving. It wasn't exactly the exciting response Nike, Gatorade and Buick expect to be generated by their biggest spokesman.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--At the behest of U.S. captain Paul Azinger, the Ryder Cup format will be altered during this September's matches against Europe with foursomes preceding four-balls on each of the first two days. The last time this order was in effect was 1999, when the U.S. rallied to win 14 1/2 to 13 1/2 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., although the turnaround was generated by strong play during the Sunday singles, allowing the Americans to rally from a 10-6 deficit.

"I'm not saying we're better than Europe at foursomes or alternate shot than Europe is," Azinger said. "I just want to make a change. We've made some huge changes elsewhere, like with the selection process. Why not the format too? They've killed us the last two Ryder Cups playing four-balls before foursomes, for whatever reason. Why not try something different?"

Since 1973, when the Ryder Cup first featured morning foursomes followed by afternoon four-balls, the Americans have a 3-2-1 record.

The format of foursomes preceding four-balls has been used during several recent Ryder Cups, an exception being in 1997 when Europe's captain Seve Ballesteros requested a change shortly before the event began. However, in the last two Ryder Cups, each a rout by Europe, the four-balls have been played in the morning on Friday and Saturday, followed by the foursomes in the afternoon.

Earlier this month, Azinger revealed that he will make his four Captain's picks on Sept. 2, three weeks after the normal post-PGA Championship announcement. During that time period, two of the three FedEx Cup events--the Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship--will be contested. "Why not wait until the last possible moment?" Azinger said. "If a guy who doesn't make the top eight on points happens to win either of those tournaments, you have to like his chances of being a captain's pick. That's the whole idea, to have guys on our team who are in form and playing well at the time." The Sept. 2 press conference will take place in New York, and, according to Azinger, the PGA of America has been supportive of all his suggestions. "They've pretty much given me free reign," he said. "They want to win the Ryder Cup back as much as I do, and we're trying to do everything we can to make it possible."

The 37th Ryder Cup will be staged Sept. 19-21 at Valhalla G.C. in Louisville. Shortly after he was named captain, Azinger instituted a significant change in team selection whereby he will be afforded four picks, instead of two, to fill out his 12-man team. Azinger is to discuss the format change later Wednesday at a press conference.

-- Bob Verdi

The first four weeks of the PGA Tour season have seen its winners post some pretty low numbers (Tiger Woods' 19-under mark at Torrey Pines just continued the trend) and this week's FBR Open at TPC Scottsdale could produce the lowest winning score yet. Last year, Aaron Baddeley took the title by shooting 21 under par, marking the fourth time in seven years that the eventual champ reached 20 under for the week. The scoring average at the Tom Weiskopf/Jay Morrish course was 69.85, its lowest-ever total, and marked just the second time in 20 years that it has been in the 60s. The hardest hole a year ago, the 469-yard, par-4 11th, ranked as the 211th toughest on tour. Ony three other holes were among the top 500.

But no matter how easy the course plays, all eyes will be on the 16th hole. The 162-yard, par-3 with the most boisterous gallery on tour yielded 72 birdies in 2007, but no aces. Ryuji Imada came closest, leaving his tee shot nine inches from the cup. Everybody remembers Woods' hole-in-one in 1997, but the last player to make a 1 there was Mike Sposa, who plunked one in the cup in the second round of the 2002 event.

Baddeley won a year ago because he made putts--especially the long ones. Badds was 8 for 23 on putts from more than 20 feet, including four of six from 20-25 feet. His average distance of putts made in a round was 120 feet, 11 inches. The flatstick helped him shoot 64-64 on the weekend to beat John Rollins by one and Jeff Quinney by 2.

--John Antonini

LA JOLLA, Calif.--Kelly Tilghman returned to the broadcast booth for the Golf Channel on Thursday at Torrey Pines Golf Course for the first round of the Buick Invitational. Tilghman, who served a two-week suspension from her company for making a racially insensitive comment during a telecast with partner Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, read a taped, on-air apology prior to Thursday's broadcast.

"I'm Kelly Tilghman. It's an honor to be with you again. In a recent live broadcast I used an inappropriate word that was offensive to many. Over the last two weeks, I've taken time to reflect and truly understand the impact of what I said. While I did not intend to offend anyone, I understand why those words were hurtful. I am terribly sorry for any hurt that I've caused. I would like to express my deepest apologies."

--Mark Soltau

Trevor Immelman is happy to see the calendar turn to 2008. Catching a stomach virus at last year's Masters and losing 30 pounds was only the half of it. After winning the Nedbank Challenge in December, Immelman, ranked as the PGA Tour's 18th-best player in Golf World's 2008 preview, thought he had a pulled muscle in his rib cage, but an X-ray showed a benign golf-ball-size tumor. He had it removed and hopes to start his season at next week's FBR Open. "It was pretty serious," said instructor David Leadbetter. "But he's very fit, and it won't be long, a week or two, before he's back to normal. He's such a quality player. He's one of those young guns who could really do something."

--Tim Rosaforte