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GREENSBORO — The buzz factor at the Wyndham Championship golf tournament dropped Tuesday to slightly elevated murmur status. This is what happens when your defending champion, Davis Love III, withdraws because of impending surgery for kidney stones.

This is what happens when your top two celebrities for today's Lincoln Financial Pro-Am — that would be NASCAR driver Kyle Petty and former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith — pull out with injuries of their own. Or when the PGA Tour's longest driver, Bubba Watson, drops out, as well.

The casualty list for the inaugural Wyndham this week at Forest Oaks Country Club has been like a roll call of the tournament's top players. On Thursday, Boo Weekley withdrew, citing fatigue. Friday came word that Chris DiMarco had withdrawn for the same reason. On Monday, K.J. Choi, the 2005 Greensboro PGA champion and the world's 12th-ranked golfer, excused himself to rest for the upcoming FedExCup playoffs. That theme continued Tuesday as players checked out seemingly by the hour.

By the end of the day, Love, Watson and four others were out of the field, leaving tournament officials frustrated but determined not to let any absences overshadow the event.

"What can you do except press forward?" tournament director Mark Brazil said. "It's a tough deal, but you just have to grin and bear it."

Of Tuesday's withdrawals, none was more stinging than that of Love. Just 10 months ago, he rallied on Forest Oaks' back nine to win his second PGA title in Greensboro. Love's name and mug are plastered around town on billboards, in TV commercials and even on tournament tickets.

Love received a diagnosis of kidney stones last month, but was hoping to put off surgery until next month. On Tuesday, his doctor in Sea Island, Ga., recommended surgery this week, according to Mac Barnhardt, Love's agent.

Love, who also withdrew the Tuesday before the tournament in 2005, will enter Brunswick (Ga.) Hospital on Thursday for a procedure known as lithotripsy, which uses sound waves to break up kidney stones. He expects to return to play at next week's Barclays, the first of the four tournaments that make up the PGA Tour's FedExCup playoffs.

"I'm extremely disappointed not to be able to defend (in Greensboro)," Love said in a release. "I was hoping that we could take care of this matter between tournaments, but my doctor has advised me to take care of it as quickly as possible." Love, whose golf course architectural firm completed a redesign of Forest Oaks in 2003, said the decision to withdraw was difficult.

Tour officials said they did not know Tuesday night why Watson and the other golfers — Steve Flesch, J.B. Holmes, Jerry Kelly and Shaun Micheel — pulled out. PGA Tour players are considered independent contractors, which means they can pick and choose the tournaments in which they compete.

It wasn't just the pros excusing themselves Tuesday. Smith and Petty were to play in today's pro-am. But Petty suffered a broken left hand at Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup race in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Smith injured his right elbow playing golf during the weekend, Brazil said.

Despite the depleted field, tournament officials said they expect good crowds this week.

"Obviously, losing guys like Davis and K.J. hurt," Brazil said, "but we're still going to have a good golf tournament."

Bobby Long, chairman of the Wyndham Championship's board of directors, said people came to him offering condolences over Love's departure.

"We may not have the top players, but we've got a great field," Long said. "Let's face it: There's Tiger Woods with his game, and then there's everyone else. And all those other golfers are still very, very good."

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or rbell@news-record.com