Woods on center stage

Bill Murray stumbled into the back of a crowded conference room Tuesday just as Tiger Woods was wrapping up his media conference at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The "Caddyshack" star looked more confused than usual.

"Where's the other guy?" Murray asked.

Murray, as it turned out, was an hour late.

He was supposed to be at the interview table with D.A. Points, his partner last year when they won the pro-am, and perhaps the most overlooked defending champion at a PGA tournament since Nick Price at Colonial in 2003.

"I got here and I got the program and I looked at the tickets and I thought, 'Wait a minute. Didn't I win?' " Points said. "And there are pictures of Bill everywhere. I'm driving down the highway, I see a billboard. There's Bill. There's Tiger. I'm like, 'Where am I?' "

It's the only PGA tournament Points has won, so he was a little bummed at the oversight.

But he gets it.

"The celebrities obviously make this event larger-than-life sometimes," he said.

That's the effect Woods has this week at Pebble Beach.

It's not unusual for him to start a PGA Tour season along the Pacific coast, although it's usually at Torrey Pines. And there is a certain magic about Woods and Pebble Beach, which has been a big part of his career even though he has won only twice, both in the same year.

The first was the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and it's a timely memory considering the past two weeks have featured wild comebacks and ugly meltdowns. Brandt Snedeker came from seven shots behind at Torrey Pines to beat Kyle Stanley, who made triple bogey on the final hole; then Stanley came from eight shots back to win in Phoenix after Spencer Levin shot 75.

Woods was seven shots out of the lead with seven holes to play in 2000, and still appeared to have no chance until he holed a wedge for eagle on the 15th, nearly holed another shot on the 16th and beat a fast-fading Matt Gogel.

"I was just trying to somehow get in it," Woods recalled. "All of a sudden, boom! Three shots, two holes, I'm back in the ballgame."

It was even more significant because that was his sixth consecutive PGA Tour win.

Then came the greatest single feat of his career that summer in the U.S. Open, a major where Woods was at the absolute apex of his game. On a course so difficult that no one else broke par, he shot 12-under 272 and won by 15 shots.

Now, the mystique has given way to curiosity.

Woods still draws the biggest crowd and drives attention in golf — Saturday's round when the celebrities are at Pebble Beach was headed for its first sellout — but no one can be sure what to expect. There is unpredictability about Woods that wasn't there before.

That, too, might be changing.

Woods began his 2012 season in Abu Dhabi, where he was tied for the lead going into the last day, but was outplayed by Robert Rock.

However, Woods' game has been trending up the past few months.

In mid-November, he took the 36-hole lead in the Australian Open and finished third. Then, he was among the best players on the U.S. team at Royal Melbourne in the Presidents Cup. In early December, he ended a two-year drought by winning at the Chevron World Challenge with birdies on the last two holes.

He was starting to warm up, but stopped for a winter break.

And then in Abu Dhabi, while he didn't win, he was right back where he left off — contending.

"I think that's what's exciting," Woods said. "Because before . . . I didn't go into those breaks feeling good about where my game was. I was still making changes, still trying to get healthy. It was never really there. This time was different. I went into it healthy, went into it playing well, and then was able to build on it over the break.

"Took two weeks off after the World Challenge, didn't touch a club, and then after that got right back into it and boom — almost won a tournament," he said. "So things are progressing."

"I feel very much at peace where I'm at," Woods said. " . . . Everything is headed in the right direction."