Woods Extends His Break Time

Tiger Woods said Monday that he’s skipping the PGA Tour’s season-opening event because he wants an extended leave from golf.

“I just need some time away from the game,” Woods said in a posting on his website. “I need a break.”

Woods has missed the Mercedes Championships only one other time since 1997, when he was recovering from knee surgery in 2003. He won it in 1997 when the event was at La Costa and won it again in 2000 at Kapalua, Maui.

The winners-only tournament from this year’s PGA Tour season might be lacking star power this time, when only three of the top 10 ranked players in the world are likely to show up. Woods’ absence isn’t going to help the field, which also may be without Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen. Fifth-ranked Ernie Els didn’t win a PGA Tour event and is not eligible to play the Mercedes.

Mickelson and Goosen have indicated they’re going to stay home. Mickelson, who is on vacation in Mexico, said last week that he hasn’t decided on playing at Kapalua, but he isn’t expected to play his first tournament until the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic that begins Jan. 26.

Padraig Harrington of Ireland, a two-time winner last year, said he is taking a nine-week break and won’t play at Kapalua. That would leave Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia and Jim Furyk as the only players ranked in the top 10 still intending to play the Mercedes.

Woods, the 2005 player of the year, and other stars such as Mickelson, who didn’t play the Tour Championship so he could be with his family, have been outspoken that the PGA Tour season is too long and needs to be cut, an option that is expected to occur when the 2007 tournament schedule is firmed up next year. There is a three-week break between the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

Woods hinted over the weekend at the Target World Challenge, the last PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament of 2005, that he was badly in need of a break from golf. He tied for 14th in a 16-player field in the $5.5-million special event that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. It was his sixth tournament in six weeks. Beginning with the Tour Championship Nov. 3 at Atlanta, Woods played in China, Japan, Hawaii, the Skins Game at La Quinta and the Target at Sherwood Country Club.

He said he was relieved the season had ended. “I am. The stress that started at the Tour Championship, this has been a long stretch,” he added.

“I’m looking forward to getting my body back to being healthy.”

Because he is the defending champion, Woods is all but certain to make his return at the Buick Invitational, which starts Jan. 20 at Torrey Pines, the week before the Hope. Woods has never played the Hope.

It’s likely that his schedule would then include the Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club in mid-February and the Accenture Match Play Championship the next week at La Costa.

That would add up to a six-week off-season for Woods, the second longest of his career. He took eight weeks off at the end of the 2002 season after having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in December.

Woods, who said his knee was bothering him last week, played 21 PGA Tour events in 2005, equaling the most in his nine full years as a professional, but counting other worldwide tournaments, he played 26 events. That is Woods’ most since he played 26 tournaments in 1998 when he was 22. Woods turns 30 on Dec. 30.