What's more important, Woods or weather?
If Tiger Woods' absence has crushed fan interest in the Nissan Open, you can't tell by the attendance reports. Compared to 2006 -- when Tiger was here -- the crowd at Riviera on Thursday (20,178) was up by about 1,000, the crowd Friday (35,992) was up about 9,000, and the crowd Saturday (44,137) was up more than 16,000. The differences from last year to this are 1.) nicer weather and 2.) a more intriguing field overall even without the world's top-ranked player.