It is Woods’ first competitive event in Southern California since 2008, when he won the United States Open in San Diego, reports the New York Times.

Due to a knee injury, Woods sat out of his tournament in 2008, and was conspicuously absent last year, withdrawing because of injuries he sustained in the infamous car accident last November that opened the door on his adulterous past.

A year marked by seismic changes in his life a divorce, a new swing coach, the loss of his No. 1 world ranking will officially end in a place that conjures warm memories of a more innocent time. Woods insisted that he is the new old Tiger.

“It’s been difficult,” he said, referring to the past year, “but also it’s been very rewarding at the same time. It forced me to look deeper into myself and look where how I grew up and how those things didn’t match with the person who I am, and getting back to that, getting back to how my parents raised me, basically.”

Woods has won this event four times, most recently in 2007. Throughout 2010, he did not record a victory in the 12 PGA Tour starts he had the first time since he turned professional in 1996 that he failed to win a tournament.