Gut says, "Sawgrass...Riviera...Hartford..."
Still, it's hard to isolate a favorite for watching, but its likely to come from this West Coast swing...whether it was the 70s/80s as a northern youth stuck in winter clearing off snow to hit balls during commercials, or the Tiger era of great competition and compelling tournaments, or now with 18 hole 4-day coverage of an unbelievably skilled and accomplished field...this West Coast beginning has always had something good, from Hawaii to California.
And just like with American football, there was/is/can be something so sanguine about seeing the final holes of these West Coast tournaments in their bright western afternoon, while I watched in the 5:30 mid-winter dark.
Now it's more about the courses and what they compel from the elite, in an overgrown competition, but in a once-younger time, there was an "elan" to the Tour's traditional western beginning that was replete with the notions of wealth and age in the Palm Desert... there was a genuine exotic texture to watching live action from Hawaii... there was an inchoate cache to the "star" associations of Hope, Crosby, Glen Campbell, Andy Williams. Those nostalgic sentiments seem to have no place in the contemporary conversation, but they register just the same with me when I consider the op question
Forced to pick, I think I have to give it to the Farmers at Torrey; that field is usually on par with Kapalua and Riviera and that competition usually produces a fine week and a fine finish on Sunday. I know the course and the hole have doubting critics, but for my money, its a fun routing to watch and has one of the top 3 exciting finishing holes ever... from bowling alley tee shot, regarding obstacle of artificial pond, to segmented Escher print mammoth green; if that's contrivance, then contrivance can prosper as a matter of watching elite golf on television.[size=78%] [/size]