Tiger Woods: What to Watch for in Tiger's 2012 PGA Tour Debut at Pebble Beach

The next stop in the Tiger Woods comeback tour is the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which will be his official 2012 PGA Tour debut.

Tiger's outlook for the tournament is something of a mixed bag. He comes into the action at Pebble Beach on a bit of a hot streak, having played very well in each of his last four starts. He's established some consistency with his swing and, more importantly, he's healthy.

As long as he can maintain those two things, Tiger will be able to compete.

Tiger's cause will be helped by the fact that there won't be a whole heck of a lot of competition at the Pro-Am. Sure, A-list stars like Bill Murray, Chris Berman and Tony Romo, Tiger's partner, will be there, but the best of the best the golf world has to offer won't be. We're looking at a field without the likes of Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Steve Stricker, Webb Simpson, Jason Day, Adam Scott or Charl Schwartzel.

I'll thank Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News for the list, and I'll thank him double for pointing out that those players are among the top nine in the World Golf Rankings.

Given the lack of top-flight competition in the field, Tiger could very easily win the Pro-Am, thus snapping his PGA Tour winless streak. The fact that Tiger beat a weak field at the Chevron World Challenge to earn his first tournament victory in two years definitely supports the notion.

But as is always the case when we're talking golf, this will be much easier said than done. There are a few too many unknowns in the way for us to proclaim Tiger the winner right here and now.

Pebble Beach is a tough nut to crack. The three courses in the Pro-Am rotation are among the most difficult courses in America, and you can't take anything for granted with the weather conditions in the Monterey area. Not in February, anyway.

The circumstances at play could most certainly lead to Tiger having some trouble establishing any kind of consistency with his game, which is more than a little concerning. As well as Tiger has played recently, he's still not driving and putting as well as he used to. He's not hitting fairways consistently, and his putting is just a little off.

Tiger is pretty close to where he wants to be in both these regards, but the Pro-Am atmosphere could throw him off. Pebble Beach will be a circus. There will be plenty of hoopla following the celebrities, and it will be even more insufferable in Tiger's general vicinity. Romo is kind of a big deal.

We have no idea how Tiger is going to deal with it. This is the first time he's played in the Pro-Am since 2002. The assorted distractions may have an impact on his game.

On balance, there's a dark side and a light side to Tiger's decision to play in the Pro-Am. If he plays well amidst all the nonsense, it will be even more apparent that he is well on track to regaining his old dominance. If he doesn't play well, his trip to Pebble Beach will go into the books as a setback.

Either way, the tournament will definitely be worth watching. That goes for any tournament with Tiger in it.

If he doesn't play well, at least Carl Spackler will be there to entertain us.