O'Neill: Woods' weekend absence not a surprise

The PGA Tour’s version of the Stanley Cup playoffs will begin this week with The Barclays. And there will be at least two things you will not see in this playoff opener.

1.    Playoff beards
2.    Tiger Woods

After all the hype about the FedExCup series finale, after all the consternation about how it should be conducted and what it all means, Woods spoiled the party opener by announcing he would not participate this week.

Where golf is concerned, a tournament without Woods is like a day without sunshine, without drinking water or air, without any form of life.

“I’m just not ready,” Woods said in a statement on Friday, just a few days after he won the sweltering hot PGA Championship in Tulsa. “My body is spent and I need a short break.

“This is in no way a knock on Barclays, their new event next week or the new FedExCup series, which I fully support. I just hope that this extra week of rest will rejuvenate me for the final three playoff events and Presidents Cup. It is still my goal to win the FedExCup and I am hopeful this will give me the best opportunity to finish the year strong.”

The startling part of this scenario is not Woods’ decision to punt on first down in the four-down series. The startling part is that right-thinking individuals envisioned Woods might participate. The game’s No. 1 star and sports’ No. 1 wage earner does not play several weeks in a row. Doesn’t like to, doesn’t have to, doesn’t do it.

He hasn’t played more than two consecutive weeks at a time all season. Three in a row was his busiest stretch last year, and that was early in the season. To think he might play in the Bridgestone and PGA, take a week off, and then compete in four consecutive tournaments before going to the President’s Cup was more than wishful thinking.

It was a pipe dream, and it became an impossible dream when Woods won the Bridgestone and the PGA back to back.

“He feels it's his best chance to win the thing by taking a week off after the wins at Bridgestone and the PGA,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said during the CBS broadcast last week.  “I’m very disappointed about that decision. On the other hand, I can’t second-guess Tiger in terms of what he thinks he needs to do to win and he is committed to win, as we’ve seen all year long.”

The second guess lays entirely with the PGA Tour. Finchem wants this showdown at the FedExCup Corral to create the same kind of excitement playoffs do in other sports. That’s understandable given the circumstances. Professional golf has four major championships and its professional league doesn’t conduct any of them. Give the drummer some.

But when your No. 1 attraction is a no-show right out of the gate, it kind of hurts your credibility. If you are Tiger Woods, and you just survived a Bataan March at Southern Hills, why would you be motivated to get right back to work for a $10 million annuity?

Something tells me Woods doesn't need a retirement package. Perhaps Australian Mark Hensby put it best.

“It’s a slap in the face in a way,” the 35-year old Hensby told The Associated Press. “You can’t expect guys to play six out of seven (weeks). Someone like me would, but only because I have to.

“If that $10 million was a truckload of cash, it would probably be different. But it is deferred money going into a retirement account, so big deal.”

Truth is, with five wins and a major to his credit this season, Woods is the Player of the Year regardless of who wins the FedExCup. Truth is, the 144 players who tee it up at The Barclays will not represent a field nearly as deep as that of a major. Truth is, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, or something like that.

Tiger Woods can afford to take an unsanctioned bye week. He can beat these guys with one tournament tied behind his back.

Joe Ogilvie, a player director of the tour policy board, tried to put positive backspin on the situation, telling the AP that the series actually might benefit from the Woods’ absence in the first event.

“That way he doesn’t get any points the first week and it’ll be pretty close towards the end,” Ogilvie said.

At the same time, he acknowledged that expecting Woods to play so many weeks in a row was a stretch. “Three out of four for Tiger and five out of seven weeks is pretty good,” he added. “As long as it’s the first event and not the last, I think it’s going to be a success.”

You might have trouble convincing The Barclays people of that.

The PGA Tour has to re-visit all of this before next year or they will run into the same problem. The Ryder Cup comes right after the FedExCup series. Woods won’t be the only high-profile player looking for a breather.

Perhaps a World Golf Championship event will need to be compromised or perhaps the four-tournament series should be reduced to three. If these playoffs are going to work the way Finchem and Company want them to work, something will have to give.

One thing appears certain, it won’t be Woods.

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