Tiger’s break really begins now

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The player who walked toward the first tee at sunrise on the North Course at Torrey Pines was not accompanied by a security detail. Maintenance workers did not gather on the pro shop balcony to watch him tee off.

This was Nicholas Thompson, not Tiger Woods.

And that’s why the “indefinite break” from golf that Woods announced two months ago didn’t really start until Tuesday.

It has been 53 days since golf’s biggest star announced he was stepping away to sort out a private life that has run amok through tabloids and gossip magazines because of his extramarital affairs.

Truth is, little has changed during his absence.

At least so far.

The PGA Tour is only three weeks into its new season, three events that Woods usually doesn’t play. Besides, not as many people watch golf during those weeks, from behind the ropes or on the sofa. Not when the tournaments are played on two islands in the Pacific or four courses in the California desert. Not when they are held the same weekend as NFL playoffs.

Torrey Pines, however, is different.

It’s the first tournament on network television. It’s where Woods and his chief rival, Phil Mickelson, typically start their seasons.

How much will the PGA Tour miss Woods? Now is the time to start keeping score.

This is a big week for Tom Wilson, the tournament director of what now is called the Farmers Insurance Open. This might be the only PGA Tour event in history that had four names in the span of one year — the Buick Invitational, the Century Club of San Diego Invitational, the San Diego Open and the Farmers Insurance Open.

Woods has only missed this tournament once when healthy, in 1997 when he was playing for appearance money overseas and won the Asian Honda Classic by 10 shots over Mo Joong-Kyung. He had to skip last year while recovering from knee surgery, although he still managed to steal some headlines by announcing hours after the final round that his wife had given birth to their son, Charlie.

The difference now, of course, is not only what’s keeping him away but the uncertainty of when he will return.

His absence will continue to capture attention if he’s not at the Match Play Championship (where he returned a year ago) or another World Golf Championship at Doral the second week of March, or at Bay Hill.

Nick Watney won last year; hours after he left Torrey Pines with the trophy, word leaked that Woods had become a father again. So if Watney were to win again, could history repeat itself with another announcement from Woods? And what would the announcement be?

Watney laughed at the possibility.

“I hope it would be that he’s coming back,” Watney said. “Because we need him.”