This week marks the annual opener for Tiger-friendly tracks

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There's still much conjecture about when the real Tiger Woods will be seen again. You know, the guy who dominated the leaderboards for more than a decade. The guy who held each major championship at the same time. The guy who drove television ratings and played to huge galleries.

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We already know that the shorter North Course is a lot easier than the 7,700-yard behemoth-ish South Course. ShotLink shows just how tough the South course really is. More

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Here's guessing the emergence comes pretty soon.

The reason: Woods is about to embark on a stretch of tournament at which he's very comfortable and very competitive. And for some reason he's been very successful on some of the most difficult tracks on the PGA TOUR, the ones others dread when they start calculating the effect on their scoring average.

Woods will make his 2011 debut this week at the Farmers Insurance Open, which is played at Torrey Pines in San Diego. His next five appearances will likely come at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championships at Dove Mountain, the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Doral, the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, the Masters and the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. (He could compete in the Northern Trust Open, but has been frustrated by his puzzling lack of success at Riviera and hasn't played there since 2006.) These six events may be the most Tiger-friendly stretch of the season.

One reason that Woods picks these tournaments is because his game works there. Over the last five events in which he's competed at each venue, he's won five times at Torrey Pines (once when the U.S. Open was held there), once at the Match Play, three times at Doral, twice at Bay Hill and once at Quail Hollow. He's not won at Augusta National since 2005, but has finished no worse than a tie for sixth in his last five Masters.

Since 2006 he's made 23 starts in those six tournaments and won nine times. During that same span only Phil Mickelson (three), Geoff Ogilvy (three) and Ernie Els (two) were multiple winners at those events.

Consider that these are some of the most difficult courses on TOUR. Augusta National (No. 3), Quail Hollow (No. 8), Bay Hill (No. 9) and the Torrey Pines South Course (No. 16) were each ranked among the top 20 toughest courses on the 2010 PGA TOUR. Some players prefer easier venues, but Woods has never taken that route. That's another reason his record of success is so amazing.

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Tiger Woods

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Tiger's stroke average at Torrey Pines is 68.33 in 43 rounds. You have to turn the calendar back all the way to 2002 to find the only time he's shot over par at Torrey Pines. (That was at least three swing reconstructions ago.) His worst finish ever in 11 trips there is a tie for 10th.

The first two rounds of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines are split between the difficult South Course and the free-wheeling North Course. It's normally an easy process to look at player's scores after two days and identify which course he played on which day.

For example, if a player shot a 76, it probably took place on the South Course. If he shot a 66, it probably occurred on the North Course. That's not the case so much with Woods. In 2008, his last year at the Farmers Insurance Open, his first two rounds were a 67 and a 65. Either could have occurred o the North Course.

Sometimes he's won by record margins; that eight-shot win at Torrey Pines in 2008 remains impressive. But he's also won with guts and heart; just ask Bart Bryant and Sean O'Hair, who he robbed on the 72nd green on back-to-back years at Bay Hill with Arnold Palmer watching.

Woods has proven he can win on all conditions, too. Fairways on those courses range from kikuyu to rye to Bermuda grasses. The greens are different, too, from poa annua to bent to Bermuda, with the strain of Bermuda different in Doral and Quail Hollow.

Will Woods win this week with that new Foley-built swing? Who knows? But he's definitely on the clock.

"Has he been vulnerable over the last year or so? Yes, we've all seen it," said Rocco Mediate, who is paired with Woods for the first two rounds this week. "Does that mean he's always going to be that way? Absolutely not. He will figure a way out. He will evolve and do what he's got to do to figure it out."

And, with history on his side, that may be sooner rather than later.

Stan Awtrey is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.