By Iain Carter BBC Five Live golf correspondent

In the second of his fortnightly reports from inside the ropes, our man looks forward to tracking Tiger in the desert and questions America's grip on world golf.

Time can drag at this time of year, but I still can't believe the moment has come to pull out the old suitcase and get ready to hit the road again.

Tiger cannot wait to face the press pack in Dubai

Dubai beckons - one of my favourite weeks of the year - and it's come around a little quicker than normal.

The Desert Classic is a month earlier than usual. I'm told this change was to accommodate Tiger Woods' schedule.

Undoubtedly he brings the X factor to a tournament and I'm looking forward to his first encounter of the year with the rejuvenated Ernie Els.

I'm sharpening my elbows to make sure I can make it to the front of the inevitable media scrum. It's my job to get the Five Live mic under Woods' nose and make sure I lift the pause button to ensure I record his words of wisdom.

To be honest, it'll be a surprise if he says anything of any great importance. Woods has perfected the art of the non-controversial quote.

At the PGA Championship last year, he flatly refused to answer my question whether he was surprised that the rest of the so-called "big five" hadn't challenged in the earlier majors of 2005.

Woods preferred to argue - erroneously in my opinion - that the likes of Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh HAD challenged for the Masters, US Open and Open, rather than say anything that might irk his rivals.

At least Tiger's travelling beyond the borders of the US which I'm sure will please Dave, who emailed his concern over the way the Americans are bossing the schedules once again.

Dave wonders if the supremos of the US and Europe are drifting further apart. In answer, the new American schedule, to be introduced in 2007, does Europe few favours. Dave also suggests a world tour, but I think we're as far from that as we've ever been.

It makes no difference that the likes of Els, Goosen and US Open champion Michael Campbell have jet-setting global schedules. Look at what happens to the WGC World Golf Championship events in 2007: September's American Express, which is played at the Grove in Hertfordshire this year, simply disappears.

In its place comes the CA Championship - to be played in March in, you guessed it, the good old U-S of A. Doral, Miami, to be precise. This means all of the WGC individual events will be in America. Here's an idea - let's drop the W from the title and make it an A.

Pierre emailed to ask who we should be watching out for in 2006 and David Howell fan Mark wonders how far his man can go this year. "Howeller", as he's known, is definitely one to watch and I was amazed to see you can get 66-1 on him for the Masters.

Henrik Stenson gives the ball a damn good spanking

When the Swindon man's putter is on song he's a match for anyone and that's crucial at Augusta. I think that's his best chance of a major and he's definitely worth a wager.

Having said that, my money's on Ernie Els. I think he's in for a great year after his knee injury-enforced break last year.

Distance from the tee is a vital component these days and that's why Els, Woods and Singh are so strong. But add to that list Sweden's Henrik Stenson - a Ryder Cup debut may prove the least of his achievements this year.

This distance issue is one of the hottest topics in the game and Patrick in Scotland wonders whether he will hear the call for "new balls please" - specifically ones that don't fly so far.

Certainly the authorities have asked for manufacturers to come up with a ball that doesn't travel such vast distances. But getting companies to make such a complete about-turn is about as likely as John Daly becoming a preacher of moderation.

One idea was to make golf balls bigger - but it was chucked out because it was found that they float which brings a lot of water hazard issues.

Something has to be done though - check out the distance stats on the PGA Tour. Drives are sailing towards the 400 yard mark and more and more courses are being rendered obsolete.

Clarke and Harrington pose with the genie before he returns to his lamp

Finally for now, Tom from London points out the large number of Irishmen in the upper echelons of the world rankings. Tom argues that, per capita, Ireland is THE golfing super-power.

Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell and Co are indeed doing great things for golf in the Emerald Isle - which is great with the Ryder Cup being staged there this year.

I play golf with an Irish bloke who argues the same thing and he proves that the country does produce the most talented players. He hits the ball remarkably well for someone possessing only one eye!

Got any burning golf questions? Email them in and we'll get Iain to answer the best of them in his next column.

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