Greg Norman once said that the PGA Tour season did not really start until it reached Doral in Miami, where the first event of the Florida Swing was played in those days.
Then for about a decade it seemed things didn't get serious until Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson showed up at the same time and place.
Now it seems to be when the best Americans and Europeans start getting together, along with the Australians, South Africans and all the rest of the best for the run-up to the Masters.
The Honda Classic, which now is the opener of the four-event Florida Swing, has lined up an especially strong field of international players this week. Instead of going home after last weekend’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, many of the Euros will remain in the United States through the Masters in April.
"The Europeans start in the Middle East and the Americans start in Hawaii," Robert Karlsson of Sweden, a rookie on the PGA Tour at the age of 41, said two weeks ago at the Northern Trust Open.
"These next two, three, four more weeks is where everyone starts to get together more often. It will be because this period on the European Tour, there are not very strong events, and the bulk of the top players will play here for the two World (Golf Championship) events, and then obviously with Augusta coming up just after that.
"So this is a period of time in the U.S. that is going to have very, very strong fields, all the way from probably this week up to the TPC (in May)."
Said Justin Rose of England: "The first few weeks on Tour there's a little bit of a feeling of, where does my game stack up? But by the Florida Swing, there's almost no more excuses. Your game should be in good shape."
The Northern Trust Open had probably the deepest field of the year anywhere in the world so far, before the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship featured 64 of the top 66 players in the World Golf Rankings.
Lee Westwood of England, having been unseated atop the World Golf Rankings by Martin Kaymer this week but still at No. 2, heads a strong field at PGA National that includes Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, both from Northern Ireland, and Luke Donald of England, all of them in the top 10.
Other internationals include Rose, Ernie Els of South Africa, Vijay Singh of Fiji, Adam Scott of Australia, Edoardo Molinari of Italy, Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, Ian Poulter of England, Robert Allenby of Australia, defending champion Camilo Villegas of Colombia, Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela and Y.E. Yang of South Korea.
"We have talked about the rise in stature of the Honda Classic for the past several years, and these great commitments from some of the best players in the game serve as an endorsement of that," said Kenneth Kennerly, executive director of the Honda, a top-flight event that also has benefited from the new dynamics in the game.
Woods and Mickelson are not in the field, but leading the American contingent are Matt Kuchar, Anthony Kim, Rickie Fowler, Justin Leonard, Stewart Cink, Mark Wilson, Davis Love III, Sean O'Hair, Boo Weekley and Kenny Perry.
Also in the tournament are former champions Nick Price, Jesper Parnevik and Mark Calcavecchia.
All the best players in the world will be together again next week for the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral, but like the Northern Trust, the Honda has about as strong a field as you'll get in a regular PGA Tour event these days.
"When I played in Hawaii, it almost felt like the silly season," Hunter Mahan said. "Some guys were just done playing Chevron, or playing in China. San Diego was a little more of a normal routine.
"But it doesn't seem like an event is a real event until all the international guys start showing up."
Of course, it helps that the Northern Trust Open is played on George C. Thomas' gem, Riviera, and that the Honda is contested over the Jack Nicklaus-designed Champion Course at PGA National.
Riviera boasts of several holes that would be the signature at other layouts, while the Champion Course features "The Bear Trap," holes 15 through 17, as difficult a three-hole stretch as the pros see all season.
"Really, (the Honda) is a good step toward next week, and Bay Hill, and then coming into the Masters," Singh, the 2003 Honda champion, said last year.
Added Mahan: "When you hit the Florida Swing, I think you realize that Augusta is just around the corner. Florida kind of symbolizes the beginning of majors season. It's when you want your game to start peaking, and you realize the season's really under way."
And that's really what Norman meant about the season starting in Florida. It's only five weeks until the Masters.
You can almost smell the azaleas.
