A cut above the rest

I am in Los Angeles this week for the Northern Trust Open at the stunning Riviera Country Club, and apart from the bucketful of rains, the other thing in abundance seems to be speculation about Tiger Woods' imminent comeback to professional golf after a nine-month layoff because of a knee surgery.

Everyone wants to know which will be that blessed tournament, the television ratings of which are sure to crash through the roof?

For long, it was being thought that Tiger will possibly be back with the Dubai Desert Classic. After all, he was not only the defending champion, but a trip to the Middle East makes sense given his business commitments in the region. But Tiger skipped it.

I don't think he is going to play the Accenture Matchplay, even though he is the defending champion and Accenture happens to be one of his big sponsors. But the fact that he will have to play at least seven rounds in five days - if he reaches the final - will surely not be the most ideal start, considering he would like to ease into tournament play.

Doral Golf Resort & Spa, host venue of the WGC-CA Championship in Florida, looks like his best bet. Tiger has won the tournament five times in last seven tears, including at Doral in 2007. More importantly, even if he plays badly - which seems impossible given we are talking about Tiger - he can still put in four rounds of competition golf since there is no cut at Doral.

And I am sure he will put in another appearance before teeing up at the Masters. That would be Arnold Palmer's tournament at Bay Hill, a tournament he has won five times already.

Both tournaments are in Florida, so if Tiger starts missing his newborn son, he can just fly in and out every day.

Jeev Milkha Singh is a three-time winner on the European Tour