Woods overshadows 'the Los Angeles Open'

When Tiger Woods announced Thursday that he was returning to competitive golf next week at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, the news overwhelmed anything else happening in golf, including the Golf Channel's coverage of the Northern Trust Open, no doubt to the chagrin of Northern Trust.

Derek Lawrenson, writing in the U.K. paper the Daily Mail, piled on when he wrote, "about the only person who was not ecstatic was the tournament director of the Los Angeles Open."

Of course, the Northern Trust Open hasn't been the Los Angeles Open since 1988.

"Early afternoon and he (the tournament director of 'the Los Angles Open') was basking in the Golf Channel's loving presentation of one of the tour's most prestigious events, with a leaderboard filled with names such as Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Fred Couples and Luke Donald," Lawrenson wrote.

"Then came the announcement that Tiger is back and the Golf Channel suddenly considered the L.A. Open about as important as the Riviera monthly medal."

-- John Strege