Before the first ball was struck at last year's inaugural Wachovia Championship, PGA Tour officials predicted it would be the best new tournament in tour history. Today, it would be hard to argue with them.
Every ticket available was sold. Sponsorships brought in millions of dollars. More than $1 million was donated to charity, a staggering number for a first-year event trying to find its way. And players raved about the Quail Hollow Club course in Charlotte.
It would be difficult to believe things could get any better. But they have.
Tiger Woods is in the field. He joins Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Davis Love and defending champion David Toms to give the event the best post-Masters field of the spring. All the tickets are again gone.
About the only thing tournament officials didn't get right last year was the weather. Heavy rains early in the week soaked the course, making for greens that were softer and more receptive than hoped. Not that it took away from the tournament.
The event created a buzz, and that helped attract a few more players this year.
"I heard a lot of great things about it,'' said Sergio Garcia, who did not play last year.
A $5.6 million purse, with $1,008,000 going to the winner, can't hurt. But what really gets the players' attention is the golf course. Last year, Quail Hollow Club ranked as the sixth-toughest on the PGA Tour. No doubt, players appreciate a good test.
"Fantastic,'' was how Woods described Quail Hollow after his early-morning practice round Tuesday played in cool temperatures. "It's a heck of a lot longer than people told me it was.''
Woods is playing for the first time since his tie for 22nd last month at the Masters. That was his third tournament in a row outside of the top-10. Meanwhile, Mickelson has won a major and finished second to Singh, who has won back-to-back tournaments. Love is the highest-ranked player in the world without a victory this year. Toms, who had offseason wrist surgery, is still trying to regain his form.
There's a lot going on this week in Charlotte, not that the tournament needed any help. It was -- and is -- doing just fine.
Five Things To Watch
1. Vijay Singh will try for his third consecutive PGA Tour victory at the Wachovia Championship. The last player to win three straight was Tiger Woods at the end of the 1999 season.
2. Look for the final three holes at Quail Hollow to have a big impact on the tournament. Only two players -- Charles Howell and Brent Geiberger -- who finished in the top 10 a year ago managed to traverse the 16th, 17th and 18th holes without a bogey. In fact, champion David Toms made a quadruple-bogey 8 at the final hole a year ago, and still won.
3. Williamsburg, Va., used to be the site of a PGA Tour event, but Michelob switched allegiance to the LPGA Tour last year, hence the second Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill. Grace Park is the defending champion.
4. Hale Irwin, who two weeks ago won for the 10th consecutive season on the Champions Tour, defends his title at the Kinkos Classic in Austin, Texas.
5. The first British tournament of the PGA European Tour schedule is the British Masters in Warwickshire, England.
Bob Harig covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times and is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at harig@sptimes.com.