Tiger sighting @ Doral

Tiger sighting @ Doral

Tiger Woods, who missed last year’s Doral while dealing with scandal fallout, turned up on Tuesday to get in an early nine holes of practice.

Woods strolled onto the putting green just before 1 p.m., stroked a handful of putts while chatting with fellow pros, then headed to the No.1 tee for a quick nine with Hunter Mahan and Justin Rose.

Mahan and Rose also are coached by Orlando’s Sean Foley, who accompanied the trio on their round.

Since Doral became part of the WGC lineup, which has no pro-ams, Woods typically had waited until Wednesday to reacquaint himself with the TPC Blue Monster. He’s expected to get in a full practice round Wednesday morning, then address the media near the scorecard area.

Woods also learned he’ll be paired with Phil Mickelson and U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell for the first two rounds. Pairings are determined by world golf rankings, and Woods is sandwiched between No.4 McDowell and No.6 Mickelson.

It will be the first time Woods and Mickelson have played together since Sunday of last year’s BMW Championship. Their most memorable pairing came at Doral, when they dueled in the final Sunday group before Woods emerged victorious by a shot.