Column: West Coast in rearview mirror, Masters on horizon

It took until the start of the Florida swing — seven tournaments — for a PGA Tour event in 2018 to not feature at least one of the top three players in the world. Not that anyone cares at the Honda Classic. Tiger Woods is playing. Woods has picked up a new nickname in golfing circles during his return to golf: The Needle. He doesn’t just move it. He is it. Television can’t (and shouldn’t) keep the camera off him. He was on the opposite end of the course at Torrey Pines and visible everywhere because of a gallery that stretched from tee-to-green on every hole. Crowds either thinned or dispersed — safe money is on the former — after he missed the cut at Riviera. That doesn’t figure to change anytime