PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Bill Murray stumbled into the back of a crowded conference room Tuesday just as Tiger Woods was wrapping up his press conference at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The “Caddyshack” star looked more confused than usual.

“Where’s the other guy?” Murray asked.

Murray, as it turned out, was an hour late.

He was supposed to be at the interview table with D.A. Points, his partner last year when they won the pro-am, and perhaps the most overlooked defending champion at a PGA Tour event since Nick Price at Colonial in 2003.

“I got here and I got the program and I looked at the tickets and I thought, ‘Wait a minute. Didn’t I win?’” Points said. “And there are pictures of Bill everywhere. I’m driving down the highway, I see a billboard. There’s Bill. There’s Tiger. I’m like, ‘Where am I?’”

It’s the only PGA Tour event Points has won, so he was a little bummed at the oversight.

But he gets it.

“The celebrities obviously make this event larger-than-life sometimes,” he said.

That’s the effect Woods has this week at Pebble Beach.

It’s not unusual for him to start a PGA Tour season along the Pacific coast, though it’s usually at Torrey Pines. And there is a certain magic about Woods and Pebble Beach, which has been a big part of his career even though he has won only twice, both in the same year.

Woods still draws the biggest crowd and drives attention in golf — Saturday’s round when the celebrities are at Pebble Beach was headed for its first sellout — but no one can be sure what to expect. There is unpredictability about Woods that wasn’t there before.

That, too, might be changing.

Woods began his 2012 season in Abu Dhabi, where he was tied for the lead going into the last day and was outplayed by Robert Rock. What some might see as more evidence that Woods can no longer be the player he was, Woods sees as real progress.

His golf — and his life — has been a series of stops and starts since his last tour win at the 2009 Australian Masters, right before his personal life came crashing down.

The divorce. The new swing coach. The injuries. The new caddie.

Woods had to adjust to a new lifestyle as a divorced father of two children, but equally time-consuming was the recovery from injuries. He finally got that sorted out late last summer, and then he missed two months because he was ineligible for the FedEx Cup playoffs.

His game has been trending up over the last few months.

Woods took the 36-hole lead in the Australian Open and finished third. He was among the best players on the U.S. team at Royal Melbourne in the Presidents Cup. Then, he ended a two-year drought by winning the Chevron World Challenge.

He was starting to warm up. He stopped for a winter break.

And then in Abu Dhabi, while he didn’t win, he was right back where he left off — contending.

“I think that’s what’s exciting,” Woods said. “Because before …. I didn’t go into those breaks feeling good about where my game was. I was still making changes, still trying to get healthy. It was never really there. This time was different. I went into it healthy, went into it playing well, and then was able to build on it over the break.”

On the air

PGA Tour, Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

• When: Today-Sunday

• TV: Golf Channel (today and Friday at noon; Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m.) and CBS (Saturday and Sunday at noon)