Woods Flies to See His Father

Tiger Woods, who was supposed to play a practice round Wednesday for the Players Championship, was instead visiting his seriously ill father at the family home in Cypress and had flown there Tuesday night, according to several sources who did not want to be identified.

Jacksonville television station WTLW reported that Woods had flown to see his father, but Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent, would not confirm the reason for Woods’ absence from TPC Sawgrass.

“Tiger Woods was off site today for personal reasons, but intends to be back at the TPC Sawgrass in time for his first-round tee time Thursday at 12:33 p.m.,” Steinberg said in a printed statement.

Earl Woods, 74, had a heart attack in 1996 and was diagnosed with cancer two years later. He was too ill to attend Woods’ tournament, the Target World Challenge, in December at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks and was not able to come to the course at Augusta National last year to see Woods win his fourth Masters title, confined instead to the family’s rented house in Augusta, Ga.

Woods did not play in the season-opening Mercedes Championship at Kapalua and explained he wanted to spend more time with his father. His first tournament was the Buick Invitational in late January at Torrey Pines, which he won.

Before the event, Woods said he was grateful to have seen his father in the time he chose to stay away from tournament play.

“It meant the world to me,” he said. “I mean, he’s my dad and I love him to death. He’s my best friend and any time you can spend time with your parents that you truly love, especially when he wasn’t feeling all that well, it meant the world to me.”

The Masters begins in two weeks.