Full Roar

They were busy at Riviera Country Club on Monday, calculating the Tiger effect, figuring exactly what happens to a tournament when Tiger Woods is coming off a big victory and shows up on your doorstep.

The Nissan Open throws open its doors this week to Woods and 41 of the world’s top 50 players, who will play the eucalyptus-lined course in the canyon, where the main attraction will probably affect not only the television ratings, but also the bottom line.

“There’s electricity in the air,” said tournament director Tom Pulchinski.

Also, there’s money in the bank. Pulchinski estimated that the presence of Woods will mean at least a 20% increase in ticket sales this week. That figures out to be an extra $675,000 for the Junior Chamber of Commerce, which runs the event, based on last year’s attendance of 135,000 and a ticket price of $25.

All the corporate hospitality areas were already rented before Woods officially committed to play here last week. There are five panoramic suites at the fifth hole, 12 more at the 18th and five corporate hospitality tents. They all range from $12,000 daily to $29,000 for the week, or from $264,000 to $580,000.

The numbers always seem to spike because of Woods.

The national overnight Nielsen ratings for Sunday’s fourth round at Torrey Pines was 6.7, compared with a final Nielsen rating of 3.5 for the previous Sunday at Pebble Beach, where Woods did not play.

Once Woods said he would play Riviera, Pulchinski quickly instructed his advance-ticket sales force to increase the number of tickets and cash at their posts to handle any increased demand on tickets.

“We expect a huge week,” he said.

It’s probably not only because of Woods. Vijay Singh, who won at Phoenix; Mike Weir, who won at the Bob Hope, and Davis Love III, the Pebble Beach champion, are also going to play. So are Sergio Garcia, David Toms, Chris DiMarco, Jim Furyk, Colin Montgomerie and Nick Price.

There can little argument, however, that the heavy lumber belongs to Woods, who, except for last year, has played the Nissan Open every year since he turned pro.

John Gill, senior manager of national events for Nissan, says part of the reason Woods connects with Riviera is its rich history and its association with the greats of golf.

“Hogan never played the TPC Scottsdale,” Gill said.

It was Gill who offered 16-year-old Woods a sponsor’s exemption into his first PGA Tour event at Riviera.

“Tiger is an old friend of ours,” Gill said. “Tiger remembers.”

Apparently, Tiger also remembers how to play, even if he hadn’t done much of it recently. He had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Dec. 12 and missed the first five tournaments of the year, but came back over the weekend at the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines.

Woods shot 16 under par and won by four shots. Equally important, after shooting a second-round 66, he committed to play at Riviera.

“I get asked that question continually -- ‘Is Tiger coming?’ Finally, I got to say, ‘Yes, he’s coming,’ ” Pulchinski said. “And he’s coming in hot, right after a win, right after beating Phil Mickelson. Anybody who knows anything about golf knows what a big story that was.”

The Nissan also got an assist from the schedule because next week’s Accenture World Match Play Championship will be played at La Costa. Woods thus leads an elite group of players at Riviera that include six of the 10 top-ranked players and 11 of the top 15.

Missing are No. 2 Ernie Els, No. 3 Mickelson, No. 5 Retief Goosen and No. 9 Padraig Harrington.

Els and Goosen played the Johnnie Walker Classic last week at Perth, Australia.

But Robert Allenby, Niclas Fasth and Craig Parry also played at Australia, and they’re part of the 144-player lineup at Riviera.

“I don’t know all the names of the best doctors in the world, but if I needed surgery, you can be darned sure I’d go by the world ranking before I had my operation,” Pulchinski said.

“We know what we’ve got here ... and you’d have to say we’re pretty happy that it’s Tiger too.”