Tiger Woods used last year's Dunlop Phoenix tournament as a springboard to a brilliant 2005 season, so it's little wonder he's happy to be back.
"I came here and put four good rounds together and won for the first time with the swing changes I'd been working on with (coach) Hank (Haney)," Woods said here on Wednesday on the eve of this year's event at Phoenix Country Club.
"That was a key for me and it springboarded me. I won my Target (World Challenge) tournament and then got off to a great start to the year with two wins prior to the Masters."
Woods won by eight strokes here last year, a margin that should have sent a resounding message around the golf world that he was back, after a relatively lean streak in which he had not won a stroke-play event in more than a year.
He arrives this year coming off successive runner-up finishes - last week in Shanghai at the HSBC Champions event and the week before at the PGA's season-ending Tour Championship.
"Last week I hit the ball very well and just didn't quite make enough putts," he said.
"Hopefully this week, with the greens being faster and smoother, I hit the ball as well as last week and make a few more putts."
But Woods is unlikely to have it all his own way at a tournament that is the Japan Tour's richest with 200 million yen (1.7 million dollars) in prize money at stake.
The large pot has helped draw a field including European No 1 Colin Montgomerie, United States Open champion Michael Campbell and world No 7 Jim Furyk.
Montgomerie, for one, admits that the presence of Woods gives everyone else a bit of extra motivation. "It does give it extra focus, Tiger being in the field," said Montgomerie, who recently won a record eighth European Tour Order of Merit title.
"He's the one score we look at throughout the week. He's obviously a hot favourite, as he is everywhere, but there's some good competition here and he won't have it all his own way, hopefully.
"I like the course. It's very tight off the tee, which should suit me," the Scot said.
Campbell, who will play the first two rounds with Woods, showed at Pinehurst in June that he has what it takes when he outlasted Woods down the stretch. He respects the world No 1 but is not intimidated.
"He's the yardstick (but) I'm out to kick his butt," said the Kiwi.
"It's been 10 years since I last visited this place. It's going to be a spectacular four days, with the best player in the world."
Other prominent international players in the field include Dane Thomas Bjorn, Australian Robert Allenby and slumping 2001 British Open champion David Duval - but all eyes will be on Woods. "Some of the things I've been working on this fall are starting to come together, which is very exciting," said Woods.
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