Farmers Insurance apparently decided that they enjoyed the results of sponsoring the San Diego Open (Formerly the Buick). They’ve signed on for four more years.

The purse will be 5.8 million—$500,000 more than Buick was offering.

That’s good news all around.

Steve Stricker made some pretty cutting comments this past weekend about Tiger’s return to golf:

“

Whenever he comes back it’s going to draw a lot of attention to that tournament. I don’t know if Augusta would like that to happen, you know? To turn it into ‘Tiger’s Comeback Tournament’ instead of the Masters tournament, itself. Hopefully, he comes back before then. You’d think, as a player, being gone for so long, he’d want to come back before.”

I wouldn’t put it past Tiger to think about making his comeback at a Major. But maybe now that he has Ari Fleischer at the PR helm, more reasonable heads will prevail. I think a Masters comeback would be a public relations disaster, bringing every golf writer on the planet to speculate that Woody thinks he’s bigger than the game itself.

And speaking of Fleischer, I’ve come to the conclusion that the “leaks,” with various dates for Tiger’s return are just trial balloons. That sort of thing goes on in Washington all the time, and it’s a tactic Fleischer is intimately familiar with: send out a few ideas as “leaks,” and see how the public reacts. One rumor says the Tavistock Cup; another, Bay Hill; a third, the Masters. I have no doubt that some “insider” also will float the notion that Tiger will sit out the Masters. Then it’s just a matter of choosing the one that plays best with the media and focus groups.

I had a conflict of interest with the WGC-CA Championship this past weekend: In my heart, I wanted Ernie Els to win; but I had Charl Schwartzel as one of my fantasy picks.

In the end, I cheered for Els. It’s been a long drought for the Big Easy. He hasn’t won in two years, but he handled this one in fine fashion, going bogey-free over the last 23 holes at a traditionally tough Doral. He looked great, and that beautiful swing was on full display.

Els now is forty years old, and I’m sure that in the back of his mind, he’s hoping for a renaissance of the sort that Vijay enjoyed over the past decade.

An Els resurgence would be great for the Tour. He’s a likable guy, and his cause is a noble one. After the win, Els mentioned that he was refocused on winning in part to bring greater attention to the plight of autistic children, of whom he has one of his own. Today (Monday after his victory), Els is participating in a charity fundraiser for a proposed $30 million Els Center For Excellence autism treatment facility in Florida.

I’m having a Masters fantasy in which Els, Steve Stricker and Phil Mickelson are at the top of the leaderboard heading into the Amen Corner.

Golfsmith Golf & Tennis is running a promotion where if you buy a Diablo Edge, FT Tour or FT-iZ and Phil wins at Augusta, you get the driver free.

I seem to remember that they ran a similar promotion last year with Sergio.

Phil has a better chance.

Doral is called the Blue Monster because when it first was built back in 1960, people said that Alfred Kaskel was creating a “monster” in the middle of a swamp. When the course opened, it was known as the “Blue” course. With its swirling winds, water hazards and tough play, it soon became known as the “Blue Monster.”

The course originally was designed was Dick Wilson and later restored by Raymond Floyd.

Here are a few satellite images of the course. More after the jump.