• TV Week, Monday, February 23, 2009 10:02 AM

The Golf Channel sprang into action with Tiger Woods' announcement that he would return to competitive play in the World Golf Championships in Tucson early this week. Golf Channel broke away from its live coverage of the Northern Trust Open for a special update on Woods' announcement last week and quickly began airing promos and commercials touting the return.

The network will be the first to show Woods in action since he played on a badly injured knee while winning the U.S. Open last June. NBC carries the later rounds of the World Golf Championship over the weekend.

While Woods' absence clearly hurt TV ratings for golf tournaments on the broadcast networks, Golf Channel experienced less of a slide because its core audience continued to tune in, even without Woods. Overall, the network's ratings were flat during the fourth quarter compared to the prior year. But Wood's return is still welcome news. Golf Channel will air a 30-minute prime-time special about Woods on Tuesday and a 60 minute pre-game show on Wednesday.

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