Tiger Woods' absence overshadows star-studded field at Wachovia Championship

From WorldGolf.com News Services

Even with 18 of the world's top 25 players scheduled to tee it up Thursday in first-round play of the Wachovia Championship, perhaps the biggest story of the week is who's not in the star-studded field.

That player, of course, is Tiger Woods. The world No. 1-ranked golfer and biggest drawing card on the PGA Tour won't be back to defend his title at Quail Hollow Country Club as he's sitting out the Wachovia and next week's Players Championship while recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery.

"Without a doubt, there's a huge void when he's not here," Masters champion Trevor Immelman told reporters when asked about Woods' absence. "The guy is probably going to go down as the greatest player of all time, and the thing that I respect most about him is the way that he handles himself on and off the golf course and the fact that he understands the impact he has on people and the impact he has on the game and he acts accordingly.

"That's why people come out in droves to see him, so there's no doubt about it that there's a hole when he's not here."

Phil Mickelson, who hasn't played since the Masters and has spent the last two weeks trying to break in a new, longer putter, said Woods not being in the field always changes the complexion of a tournament.

"I think that the game of golf always suffers when he's not playing," Mickelson said. "I think we all benefit when he does. This tournament here has led, again, all the other tour events into quality and what a tour event should be, and I wish this tournament was rewarded with his participation, but it's understandable why he's not.

"Fortunately, it's a short time out — it's only four to six weeks. When you have surgery like that, a lot of times it can be a lot longer, so we're lucky that it's not longer than it is."

Then again, it seems there are others who don't necessarily mind the lack of Woods' presence.

Last year, the Wachovia was where the whole Woods-Rory Sabbatini war of words took flight as, after shooting a third-round 64, Sabbatini said he was looking forward to playing with Woods in the final round. He then proceeded to shoot 74 and finished tied for third as Woods carded a 3-under-par 69 to win the event by two shots with a tournament-record score of 13-under 275.

At first, Sabbatini jokingly tried to convince the media on Wednesday that he didn't know or had forgotten that Woods wasn't playing this week. Finally, he acknowledged the absence.

"My chances just went up," Sabbatini said in his pre-tournament interview. "At least I won't have to deal with all of his fans.

"It was this time last year that the media butchered me, so hey, maybe it'll be a new year. Can we do a Tiger's new year? How about that? We've got the Chinese new year, we've got our new year, how about we do a Tiger new year?"

Adam Scott, coming off a playoff victory in last Sunday's EDS Byron Nelson Championship, agreed that not having Woods in the field makes the tournament much more wide open.

"For sure, because you know he was going to have a chance on Sunday," Scott told reporters. "Odds are that he will. I'm sure everyone is hoping to get in contention and give themselves a chance this week."

With the likes of Scott, Sabbatini, Mickelson, Immelman as well as 2007 runner-up Steve Stricker, 2006 champion Jim Furyk and 2005 champ Vijay Singh, Scott said he would hope that the salty field can somewhat satisfy the fans even with Woods not being in Charlotte, N.C., this week.

"It's hard to make up for, but by the looks of the turnout today, just for the pro-am, I think we're going to be in for a great week, and it'll be another successful tournament," Scott said. "But obviously to not have Tiger in the field is a letdown for everyone involved, including the players."

Wachovia Championship

SCHEDULE: Thursday-Sunday
SITE: Charlotte, N.C.
COURSE: Quail Hollow Country Club (7,442 yards, par 72)
PURSE: $6.4 million (winner's share: $1,152,000)
FEDEX CUP POINTS: 25,000 (winner's share: 4,500)
TV Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m., 8:30-11:30 p.m. EDT) and CBS (Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT)

May 1, 2008