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Adam Scott believes a proposed world golf tour will go ahead if the big money concept gathers enough support from the sport's biggest names.

British-based World Golf Group (WGG) recently announced plans to launch Premier Golf League (PGL) in 2022, which is reportedly backed by Saudi Arabian financiers.

WGG says the lucrative league would feature the top 48 golfers playing 18 tournaments a year, each with a prize purse of $US10 million ($A15 million).

Ten of the events would be in the United States, while organisers have targeted the Australian Open as one of eight overseas tournaments they want to acquire.

Former Masters winner Scott admits the world league may not benefit established circuits, such as the US PGA Tour or the European Tour, but will ultimately improve the sport.

"I think it could work, but ultimately all these things need the players' support," Scott told AAP on Friday.

"If they can get all the (top 48) players, I think it will work and it will be a positive thing for golf."

The PGL has already caused concern among the European and PGA tours, with US commissioner Jay Monahan addressing the rival circuit in a meeting with players last week at California's Torrey Pines course.

US PGA Tour players must seek a "release" from the commissioner each time they want to play an event outside their home tour and are unlikely to be given 18.

"I don't see it making the other tours stronger," Scott said. "If the top 50 golfers are playing world tour, then they are probably not playing the PGA Tour or the European Tour.

"But in the big picture, I think (fans will enjoy) watching the top golfers play all the time."

Five-time major winner Phil Mickelson is believed to have some involvement with the world tour and played with backers of the PGL on Wednesday in the pro-am of the European Tour's Saudi International tournament.

Several star golfers have suggested the concept will only work with the support of 15-time major winner Tiger Woods.

But Scott says that is only correct in the short term.

He backed four-time major winner Rory McIlroy to carry the world league if it was to go ahead.

"Kind of," said Scott when asked if the PGL needed Woods. "Yes, he has just won a major championship. He is one of the best players in the world and, of course he, is Tiger Woods and he is very relevant right now. But how long does that last for?

"This tour isn't just about the next three or five years. Thinking big picture, I feel some people, especially like Rory McIlroy, could be incredibly influential in this."

Meanwhile, Scott will make his competitive return at next month's Genesis Invitational hosted by Tiger Woods, having rested since winning the Australian PGA Championship in December.

Scott will make several tweaks to his golf schedule for 2020, including adding the World Golf Championships event in Mexico in February.

For the first time since 2016, he will also tee up at the WGC-Match Play in Austin, Texas in March for his last competitive event before Augusta National.

Tiger Woods played the final round at the US PGA Tour's Farmers Insurance Open unaware his good friend Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash further north in California.

The news broke while Woods was in the early part of his round, and though it spread around Torrey Pines quickly, caddie Joe LaCava refrained from telling his boss until they were walking from the 18th green to the scorers' room.

"Joey realised that I was locked into trying to (win and) didn't want to distract me with this type of news," an emotional Woods told reporters minutes later.

"I didn't really understand why people in the gallery were saying 'Do it for Mamba' but now I understand."

'Black Mamba' was Bryant's nickname.

Woods, at 44 three years older than Bryant, was still processing the news of his friend's death. The pair are among a select few sportsmen famous enough to be universally known by only their first name.

"He came in the league and I turned pro right around the same time and we had our 20-year run together," said 15-times major champion Woods.

"It's a shocker to everyone, unbelieveably sad, and one of the more tragic days. I was just told about five minutes ago.

"Life is very fragile as we all know. You can be gone at any given time and we have to appreciate the moments that we have. I just can't imagine what his family's going through right now."

Woods said that from a playing aspect he would most remember Bryant's fire on the court.

"He burned so competitively hot.

"He brought it each and every night, on both ends of the floor. Not many guys can say that. He'd lock up on D (defense).

"He was obviously dominant on the offensive side, but anytime he was in the game, he'd take on their best player and shut him down for all 48 minutes. That was one of the more impressive things throughout his entire career.

"And then when he ruptured his Achilles and went to the foul line and made his shots, that's tough."

The pair often worked out together in recent years and Woods lapped up many pearls of wisdom from a fellow great.

"We really connected on more the mental side of it, the prep, how much it takes to be prepared.

"I don't have to react like he does in my sport. We can take our time, but you've still got to pay attention to the details and that's what he did better than probably any other player in NBA history."

Woods finished equal ninth at nine-under-par 279, six strokes behind Australian winner Marc Leishman.

Tiger Woods is off to a solid start in his quest to rewrite US PGA Tour history at the Farmers Insurance Open at California's Torrey Pines.

Woods has returned to the San Diego course where he was won eight times, including the 2008 US Open, hoping to earn an 83rd US PGA Tour win and take the all-time record.

The 15-time major winner gave himself a good chance at doing so with a three-under-par 69 at Torrey Pines' North course to sit three shots behind the lead after round one.

Unheralded Denmark golfer Sebastian Cappelen shot a 66 (South course) to share the first-round lead at six under with Keegan Bradley (North).

Superstar Rory McIlroy headlines nine players tied at five under and the Northern Irishman can go to world No.1 with a victory this week.

Marc Leishman (North) and Cameron Percy (South) are the top Australians at four under.

Woods' 69 is his best opening round at the event since 2013, when he won a record seventh Farmers title.

The 44-year-old - who won his last official PGA Tour start and led the American team to a Presidents Cup victory at Royal Melbourne as a playing captain last month - said it felt good to make his 2020 debut with a promising round.

"Oh, I definitely was feeling it. I missed the competition," an excited Woods said.

Woods made two front-nine bogeys but rattled off three birdies on the closing side.

He hit eight of 14 fairways on Thursday and 13 of 18 greens in regulation.

"I felt like I fought back (from the sloppy start) and now there's a lot of positives heading into the South Course," Woods said.

Having won the Masters last April for his 15th major and the Zozo Championship in October, Woods' hopes of PGA Tour win No.83 are well and truly alive.

"It would be great," Woods said of the record. "But I also won a Junior World (Championship) here, too."

Meanwhile, secondary tour graduate Rhein Gibson is next best of the Australians at three under, with recent Sony Open winner Cameron Smith a shot further back.

Aaron Baddeley (one under), two-time event winner Jason Day (one over), Matt Jones (three over), Cameron Davis and John Senden (both four over) round out the Australian contingent.

Australia's Lucas Herbert has opened with a battling 69 to lie two shots off the lead after round one of the European Tour's Dubai Desert Classic.

The 24-year-old Victorian birdied the second at Emirates Golf Club on Thursday before coughing up bogeys on holes three and five.

But Herbert steadied himself to birdie the par-three seventh and added three more on his back nine to reach the clubhouse with a decent score of three-under par.

It was good enough to leave him in an eight-man group sharing third place, two shots behind leader Thomas Pieters.

The big-hitting Belgian dropped three shots combined on the 10th and 11th holes of his first round, but recovered brilliantly with three straight birdies to shoot a five-under 67 for a one-stroke lead over David Lipsky.

The 84th-ranked Pieters is chasing his first win since August, and only second victory in three years.

American defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, one of the high-profile names in the field, was three shots off the lead after posting a 70, which included birdies on his first and last holes.

Fresh off his win at the Abu Dhabi Championship last week, England's Lee Westwood was unable to make a single birdie in a six-over 78 and was tied for 113th place alongside Australian Daniel Gaunt.

Gaunt's compatriot Jason Scrivener lies one shot ahead, with fellow Aussies Scott Hend (+1) - hoping to build on last week's top-25 finish in Abu Dhabi - and Hong Kong winner Wade Ormsby (+2) also needing good second-round scores to stay in the frame.

Lee Westwood, chasing his 25th European Tour win, has moved into a one-shot lead after the third round of the Abu Dhabi Championship.

Westwood carded a seven-under 65, including an eagle on the par-five eighth, to move to 14-under for the tournament on Saturday.

"I didn't play a lot of golf coming in, didn't know what to expect. To be in the lead with one round to go, it's a real positive," the Englishman said.

"I'm just going to go out there and play as well as I can and if it's good enough, then great. I know I'm talented enough to win the tournament, it's just a case of applying myself."

Bernd Wiesberger and second-round leader Francesco Laporta are one shot off the lead, with Matthew Fitzpatrick a shot further back on 12-under. Sergio Garcia and Kurt Kitayama are on 11-under.

Australian Scott Hend carded a 69 to be eight-under, while Murray Zach is a further shot back after shooting a two-under 70.

The top-ranked Brooks Koepka recovered from a poor round on Friday to fire a two-under 70 and is tied for 48th, nine shots off the lead.

It's Koepka's first tournament since returning from a knee injury he aggravated in October when he slipped while walking off the tee at the CJ Cup in South Korea. He previously had stem cell treatment for a partially torn tendon in his patella.

Australia's Wade Ormsby is a shot behind the American after carding a two-under 70 in his third round.

Li Haotong started two shots off the lead but the Chinese golfer's challenge fell apart with a quadruple bogey on the par-four 11th and he finished the day on six-under for the tournament.

Australian Lucas Herbert had a spectacularly disappointing round, with three double bogeys, to sit alongside compatriot Jason Scrivener on two-under overall.

Australian Cameron Davis trails joint leaders Rickie Fowler and Scottie Scheffler by four shots at the PGA tournament in La Quinta.

Fowler was making his first appearance in six years at The American Express to prepare for the next two weeks at Torrey Pines and TPC Scottsdale.

He's ahead of schedule, shooting an eight-under 64 on day two at PGA West's Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course for a share of the second-round lead with fellow American Scheffler at 15-under.

In position to make the trip over the hill to San Diego and Torrey Pines with his sixth PGA Tour title and first since Phoenix a year ago, Fowler set up shop last week at the nearby Madison Club after tying for fifth at Kapalua in the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

"It was nice to get a little work in, get some good practice and play out here in the desert to get used to being back in the desert," said Fowler, who grew up about an hour away in Murrieta.

"It's been very beneficial. I looked at that as something that was going to be the best opportunity for me to go into this West Coast swing to get the game where I want to and to play well."

He had opened with a 65 on Thursday (Friday AEDT).

Playing in the same third of the field as Fowler in the pro-am event, Scheffler also opened with rounds of 65 and 64.

Andrew Landry was a stroke out of the lead after a 64.

Sydney-born Davis shot a 67 following his opening round 66 to be the best-placed Australian at 11-under.

The 24-year-old is well ahead of fellow Australians in the field, who are led by Cameron Percy (four-under), Greg Chalmers and Aaron Baddeley (both three-under).

Tournament host Phil Mickelson needs a low round at the Stadium Course to make the cut after rounds of 70 and 72 in his first start of the year.

Watch out for Cameron Smith in this year's majors and also the Tokyo Olympics following his US PGA Tour triumph in Hawaii.

That's the message from the 26-year-old Queenslander's longtime coach Grant Field, who believes Sunday's first-up success in the Sony Open has set his charge up for a big 2020 season.

The win earned Smith a berth in April's Masters at Augusta National, where Field says he's "more than capable" of claiming the green jacket, having already tied fifth there in 2018.

There's no question, I think this could be a great year for Cam," Field told AAP.

"He will be confident having won and he knows he's played well at Augusta before.

"I think Augusta really suits Cam's game, with how accurate he is from 100 yards in and how good his putting is.

"He is also not one to get caught up in the hype of the Masters and he's able to treat it like a normal PGA Tour event."

Field believes Smith's gritty style of play will also serve him well at US Open host Winged Foot in New York - one of the hardest courses on the rotation - and a likely cold, foggy US PGA Championship in San Francisco in May.

"He plays well in tough conditions and I expect the course set-up to be brutal at the US Open and the weather to be testing at the PGA," he said.

Smith's Sony Open triumph pushed him up the world rankings to No.31, where he is breathing down the necks of countrymen Marc Leishman (No.28) and Adam Scott (No.13) for a spot on Australia's Olympic golf team.

"There are goals that Cam has made no secret about wanting to achieve; playing for Australia at the Olympics and contending at the majors. He is more than capable of both," said Field

"The Olympics are massive on Cam's radar; he loves team events and representing his country."

Smith will next tee up at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in two weeks.

The PGA Tour heads to the California desert this week for the American Express event, where Australians Greg Chalmers, Cameron Percy, John Senden, Aaron Baddeley, Cam Davis and Rhein Gibson will tee up.

Cameron Smith has won his first PGA Tour event on his own with a par on the first playoff hole at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

The Queenslander made birdie on the par-5 18th hole in regulation to join final-round playing partner and overnight leader Brendan Todd at 11-under 269.

The extra holes began on the 10th in wet conditions and fading light, Smith holding his nerve with a two-putt par from 10 feet to add to his lone previous PGA title - the 2017 two-man team's tournament in New Orleans.

Going into Sunday three shots behind Steele, Smith's hopes faded when he made bogey on the 15th to sit two shots off the pace with three holes to play.

However, Steele missed a six-foot par putt on the 17th, and hit a wild hook from the fairway on the par-5 18th and never had a reasonable look at birdie.

The 26-year-old Smith showed his class as he closed for a final-round two-under 68 with an up-and-down from the greenside bunker, capped by a clutch eight-foot putt.

"Just had to hang in there. No one was playing good golf today, it seemed like," Smith said.

"Just hung in there, and what do you know?"

The victory secures Smith a spot in the Masters.

"That's been one I've wanted to tick off for a long time, to finally say I've won an event by myself. It's quite good."

Smith will pocket $1.188 million ($A1.7m) for his first solo PGA Tour win and moves up to fifth in the FedEx Cup standings.

A two-time Australian PGA champion, Smith's career PGA Tour earnings have jumped to $10,645,748 ($A15.4m).

Fellow Australians Cameron Davis carded a 68 to share ninth at seven under, Marc Leishman's 68 left him tied for 28th, while Matt Jones had a 70 to slide back to a share of 38th.

Having started the tournament at Waialae with a bogey five and a triple-bogey seven on the first two holes, Smith edged back into contention on Sunday with a topsy-turvy round which included four birdies and two bogeys.

"I didn't feel like I played particularly well but I made the putts that I had to make," he said. "It was a struggle all day, though, the conditions wet and a little bit windy this morning so it was a challenge for sure."

"Things just fell into place. Sometimes you need a little bit of luck to kind of fall your way and you never know what can happen."

Steele's luck was the opposite, left to rue his final-round errors.

"Everything that could go wrong went wrong today," Steele said.

Webb Simpson finished third on 10-under, while Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell hit a six-under 64 to finish one stroke back.

Webb Simpson (67) was third at 10 under while Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell jumped 19 spots with a 64 to share fourth with Americans Ryan Palmer (68) and Kevin Kisner (69).

A wet and grey final round came to life in the last hour, which is about how long it took to play the last two holes. Maintenance crew kept having to squeegee the soaked 18th green.

Reuters/AP

Golf superstar Inbee Park will return to Australia for the first time in six years to contest next month's Vic Open and Women's Australian Open.

The winner of seven major titles and the Rio Olympic gold medal, South Korean Park has not played Down Under since the 2014 Australian Ladies Masters in Queensland.

Recently voted the player of the decade, 31-year-old Park has committed to play the two LPGA Tour co-sanctioned events - the Vic Open at 13th Beach (Feb 6-9) and the Australian Open at Royal Adelaide (Feb 13-16).

She enters the 2020 LPGA Tour season ranked fourth on the career money list with $US15,356,126 in career earnings, third-most among active LPGA Tour players.

"I am so excited to be going back to Australia for these two tournaments in February," said Park.

"This is my first time in the country for a few years and I have heard so much about the Vic Open with its men's and women's fields, as well as good memories from my previous visits for the Australian Open."

Park's seven majors put her alongside legends like Juli Inkster and Australia's Karrie Webb, with only Patty Berg (15), Mickey Wright (13), Louise Suggs (11), Babe Zaharias (10), Annika Sorenstam (10) and Betsy Rawls (eight) ahead of them.

Australian golfer Wade Ormsby has shot a four-under-par 66 to win the Hong Kong Open by four strokes.

Ormsby, who led throughout, remained top with six birdies against a pair of bogeys on Sunday for 17-under 263 overall.

"When you get in front there's no point in trying to play defensive," said Ormsby.

"The guys had to come and catch me basically. I was hoping to win this season but to do it in week two of the year in my first event is special and it will be one I'll remember forever.

"I have three wins on the main tours in my career and this is my first wire-to-wire."

Irishman Shane Lowry had an eagle, five birdies and a bogey for the day's lowest score of 64, which left him four strokes behind Ormsby, who also won this tournament in 2017.

Thailand's Gunn Charoenkul, who started the final round in second place, shot a 69 to finish in sole possession of third place at 12-under 268.

Gunn's compatriot Jazz Janewattananond (68) was a further stroke back followed by American Tony Finau (67), who finished fifth after a double bogey on the par-four 18th.

Ormsby's fellow Australians in the field included David Gleeson and Terry Pilkadaris, who both finished nine shots behind their champion compatriot at eight-under.

Travis Smyth (seven-under), Andrew Martin (four-under), Marcus Fraser (one-under), Scott Hend and Jason Norris (both even) were among the Australians placed further behind.

The tournament began on Thursday after a six-week delay because of anti-government protests.

It was originally scheduled for November in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory that has seen more than six months of anti-government demonstrations.

Reuters