Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - PGA TOUR - WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN, TPC Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona - The annual party in the desert is this week in Scottsdale as the PGA Tour heads to the TPC Scottsdale for the Waste Management Phoenix Open, where the normally big crowds will be bigger than ever this week. Minus last years champion Kevin Stadler, the tournament gets a huge boost from the return of Tiger Woods. Returning to the tour for his first official event since the PGA Championship, Woods is teeing it up at this tournament for the first time since 2001. The par-3 16th is far and away the most raucous hole in golf, and it was never louder than when Woods aced the hole in 1997. Woods raised the roof as beers and debris showered down on the tee box. The 16th has never been the same since. Bleachers and corporate sky boxes surround the hole, housing 20,000 fans, or more, at any given time. Last year, Stadler closed with a 3-under 68 and rallied past Bubba Watson for the win. The victory was Stadlers first on the PGA Tour. However, he will not defend as he is battling a hand injury. Woods wont be the only star on site this week. Phil Mickelson, who won this tournament as an amateur while he attended Arizona State, will tee it up at this event for the 26th time. Also teeing it up this week will be Watson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar and Bill Haas, who beat Kuchar and four other players by one stroke to win the Humana Challenge on Sunday. Golf Channel will have coverage all four days. Their coverage on Saturday and Sunday will be early, before they hand off to CBS for the first time this year. The PGA Tour returns to California next week for the Farmers Insurance Open, where Scott Stallings will defend his title against a field that includes Woods, Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, who returns to the tour for the first time since last years Canadian Open. EUROPEAN TOUR OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC, Emirates Golf Club (Majlis Course), Dubai, United Arab Emirates - While many of the top PGA Tour players will be in the Arizona desert this week, several top European Tour stalwarts will tee it up in Dubai. World No. 1 Rory McIlroy will headline the field at Emirates Golf Club this week. In his last 11 worldwide starts, McIlroy has been outside the top-8 just once. McIlroy has finished second or tied for second in each of his last four official starts. McIlroy trailed third-round leader Stephen Gallacher by two strokes entering the final round last year, but stumbled to a 2-over 74 and slid into a share of ninth place. Gallacher fired a 63 in round three to grab the lead, and he closed with an even-par 72, which was enough to give him a 1-stroke win over Emiliano Grillo, who tied for fifth last week in Qatar. The victory for Gallacher was his second straight at this event, and third on the European Tour. He was the first player to successfully defend a title in the 25-year history of the tournament. Among those in the field with McIlroy and Gallacher will be world No. 2 Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Lee Westwood and last weeks winner, Branden Grace. Golf Channel has early morning coverage of all four rounds this week. The European Tour heads to Asia next week for the Maybank Malaysian Open, where Westwood cruised to a 7-stroke win over three players last April. LPGA TOUR COATES GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP, Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club, Ocala, Florida - The LPGA Tour kicks off its 2015 schedule in Florida this week with a new event. For a first-year event, the field is full of stars. Sixteen of the top-20 players in the world are in the field this week. That group includes Inbee Park, Lydia Ko and Stacy Lewis, the top-3 players in the world, along with reigning U.S. Womens Open Champion Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson, who won the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship. Former major winners Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Karrie Webb are in the field as well. Tiger Woods niece, Cheyenne, was one of the two sponsor invites to the event. Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds of the event, that runs from Wednesday to Saturday. The tour heads to Atlantis next week for the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic, where Jessica Korda closed with a 66 last year to hold off Lewis. WEB.COM TOUR PANAMA CLARO CHAMPIONSHIP, Panama Golf Club, Panama City, Panama - Like the LPGA, the Web.com Tour kicks off its season this week. The Web.com Tour starts with five straight events outside the United States. First up is the Panama Claro Championship, where Carlos Ortiz cruised to a 4- stroke win last year. The win for Ortiz was his first of three on the season, and that earned him a trip to the PGA Tour. Ortiz was just 2-under par after 36 holes, but he played the final 36 holes in 10-under par en route to a 4-shot win over Jason Gore. Thanks to his promotion to the PGA Tour, Ortiz will not be on hand, but there are some familiar names in the field like Carlos Franco, Frank Lickliter, Jamie Lovemark, Ryuji Imada, Rod Pampling and Vaughn Taylor. There is no television coverage this week. The Web.com Tour heads to Bogota next week for the Pacific Rubiales Colombia Championship, where Alex Cejka carded a 63 in the third round and was awarded the victory after rain washed out play for the fourth straight day. Cheap Running Shoes Australia . Despite Barcelona showing the same vulnerability in defence, Messis best performance since returning from a lengthy injury layoff ensured that his side bounced back from a defeat by Valencia in the previous round. Clearance Running Shoes . -- The NFL cancelled its Hall of Fame game between St. http://www.wholesalerunningshoesaustralia.com/. -- Kurt Buschs Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, in some ways, was like his career wrapped into one afternoon. Wholesale Running Shoes Australia . They were right in that they responded to coach Randy Carlyles goaltending switch to erase a two-goal deficit. Clearance Running Shoes Australia . Virtanen opened the scoring at 6:45 of the first period, then gave Canada a two-goal lead with a power-play goal 1:03 into the second. Sweden cut the lead in half when Daniel Muzito Bagenda scored a power-play goal at 10:57 of the second.EL PASO, Texas -- Danny Manning is taking Tulsa back to the NCAA tournament. James Woodard scored 27 points to lead the Golden Hurricane to its first NCAA berth since 2003 with a 69-60 victory Saturday against Louisiana Tech in the Conference USA tournament final. "Its an indescribable feeling," said Woodard, who is from Tulsa. "Growing up as a kid, you cant wait for March Madness. To be a part of that, this time around, and for us being so young as a team, its definitely a dream come true." Woodard, who scored 18 points in the second half, made 7 of 8 free throws down the stretch to help Tulsa hold off the Bulldogs. Tulsa (21-12), which was the No. 2 seed, will carry an 11-game win streak into the tournament. Top-seeded Louisiana Tech came up short, extending an NCAA tournament drought dating to 1991. The Bulldogs (27-7) were led by Kenneth Smith with 16 points and Kenyon McNeail with 15. Alex Hamilton finished with 12. The Bulldogs led 35-34 at the half in a game with 16 lead changes. Neither team led by more than five ppoints until Tulsa took control in the final 5 minutes, pushing the advantage to 10 points on a free throw by Woodard with 1:12 left.dddddddddddd "This was a lot of fun," said Tulsa second-year head coach Danny Manning, who won an NCAA title playing for Kansas in 1988. "It was a hard-fought game. Louisiana Tech is a talented team. We have three other teams in our league deserving of a bid." Louisiana Tech, which made 7 of 10 3-pointers in the first half and shot 45 per cent from the field, cooled off in the second half. The Bulldogs, limited by a stingy Tulsa defence, shot 32 per cent for the game. They went just 4 of 15 from 3-point range in the second half and 15 of 23 from the free-throw line. "Right now, I feel bad for the four seniors," Techs Alex Hamilton said. "I just wish there was more could do. We came out on the short end. I feel bad for the guys." Meanwhile, Tulsa shot 72 per cent from the line (18 of 25), 55 per cent from 3-point range (5 of 9) and 43 per cent from the field. ' ' '