Even without Tiger, PLAYERS set to be tough
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Honestly, it's not really on their radar.
They aren't recalculating their odds of winning. They're not wondering how the change will move the needle for NBC this week. And they don't miss him -- until someone asks the question. Again.
Tiger Woods isn't here. They know it. We all know it. NBC producer Tommy Roy knows it. The best player in the game, the world No. 1 isn't turning his back on this or last week's Wachovia Championship or, well, anything else. We all know that. He's home alternately playing with daughter Sam and rehabbing from surgery on his left knee.
But with his absence comes the much-asked question -- what's the week going to be like without Tiger?.
The answer? Pretty much the same as any other week at THE PLAYERS.
Some players chuckle when they see it coming. Then the wind up and deliver the line of the day. Or moment.
"I hate that we're missing him,'' Boo Weekley said. "I mean, you know, it's unfortunate that he's having to go through what he went through with his knee and so forth, but at the same time, maybe he'll take five years off and give us a chance out here. I mean, just take him a little mini- vacation or something would be great.
Some shake their heads. This is, after all, the best field in golf and one absence -- even Tiger's -- doesn't change what they have to do for the next four days at the TPC Sawgrass. Quite simply, it's not something on their minds, and it has zip, zero, nada effect on them.
"Some weeks it would be,'' U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy said. "Not this week. It's not like he's dominated the place. It's not like Augusta National or Torrey Pines or Akron.
"If he didn't play on those weeks there would be a greater effect because of how well he's played there."
There? Well, Woods has won the last four Buick Invitationals at Torrey Pines, six of the last 10 and has never finished out of the top 10. He's been out of the top five just once. At the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, he's won the last three, six of the nine he's played in and hasn't finished out of the top four. And Augusta National? Four wins, two seconds, a third and nothing worse than a tie for 22nd in a dozen years. Or the Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley? Three wins three top fours and nothing worse than a T-22 in the last eight.
Here? Woods finished second in 2000 and won the following year. He hasn't finished in the top 10 one other time.
"If he were here, I'd tease him and say he wasn't that much of a fact in the past, so what's the difference?'' Jim Furyk said with a grin. "It's the only event I can say that. At this point, he'd be calling me a few names that you couldn't put on there (the transcript)."
Yes, he was kidding. But he said they do miss him in a way.
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"He's our lead story,'' Furyk said. "He's the one that draws --- he's drawn a lot more people to the game, but it is what it is. We'll still have a good tournament and there will still be a lot of great players here.''
A full house, minus that one, which doesn't seem to be bothering ticket sales -- it's a sellout. It may bother the network ratings, then again, a good battle down the stretch will help them.
"Anytime (Tiger's) in a tournament he's moving the needle,'' said Jason Gore. "So you want him to play.
Added Bart Bryant, "Anytime you play in a tournament without Tiger in the field it has an effect. It's really no different right now than playing in an LPGA tournament without Lorena Ochoa in the field. You're obviously missing the best player in the world.''
But, just for starters, you also have Nos. 2-49. And, just in case you're wondering, one betting house in the UK has Phil Mickelson listed at 10/1 with Adam Scott at 12/1 and Padraig Harrington at 16/1. Furyk is 20/1.
The bottom line is players have their hands full this week -- with the field and the course. The only time most of them have thought about Tiger not being here is when asked.
Then again, Steve Flesch did think about it Tuesday morning when he played a very early practice round. Since that's also a time Tiger normally practices, the course is usually packed.
"I noticed there are a lot less people out there,'' Flesch said. "There's not the urgency to get out there early and watch him."
Players notice when they are paired with Tiger or when they are playing either directly in front of or behind his pairing and that only because of the large crowds. So here? Another reason that -- for the moment -- he's out of sight and out of mind.
But missing one big event -- the last time he missed something big was 2006 when his father passed away following the Masters. He didn't return until the U.S. Open.
The networks survived then and will now. Ditto for the fans and the tournaments.
"Obviously we miss Tiger, not having the No. 1 player in the world here is a frustration, but we celebrate everybody else that's here,'' PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said. "And I think it's interesting that without Tiger here, and you look at the quality of the field; and we like to think about the quality of the field here as the depth of the field; the extent to which you go down into the field and find players that have the opportunity or the potential to win is, we think, the deepest in the game of golf.''
As Chris DiMarco pointed out -- no malice intended -- Tiger's absence means there's "one less guy you have to worry about that you know will be up there at the end.''
But the honest truth? Sean O'Hair may have said it best. Doesn't matter who's in -- or not in the field.
"You've gotta play good,'' he said, "One way or the other."
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