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GREENSBORO -- Tiger Woods has decided to rest his body while trying the PGA Tour's patience. The sport from which he's taking a break will go on without him today at the Wyndham Championship and next week in the first round of the first season-ending playoff in the history of the game.

Depending on who you talk to, this is either a slap in the face of golf or a logical move by someone who has nothing to prove to himself, the public or Tim Finchem. Woods was one of the players who went to the PGA commissioner and asked for a shorter season a couple of years ago, and he has been the face of the marketing campaign for the FedExCup, which begins next week at The Barclays.

"My body is spent, and I need a break," Woods said last week on his Web site.

And just like that, golf's first playoffs were rendered beneath him. Far from being insulted, many of the Tour's players feel the same way. As shocking as it sounds, a week before the first postseason in golf history, many players don't understand the scoring system and others see the playoffs as nothing more than a gimmick.

Ouch.

This is only the latest indication that Tiger plays a tour all his own, one that doesn't include much beyond the majors and the tournaments that lend themselves to him winning majors. Greensboro, one of 10 regular Tour stops in which Woods has never played, has never been such an event.

When he joined the Tour back in 1996, Woods said he intended to play every event at some point in his career. When asked about the FedExCup playoff format a few weeks back, he said he intended to play all four events. After winning the World Golf event three weeks ago and the PGA Championship last week, Woods held an 11,000-point lead in the FedExCup standings and rendered the rest of the season moot.

"If Tiger doesn't win the FedExCup, he's still the player of the year," Jeff Maggert said Saturday.

In other words, the playoffs are meaningless unless Woods wins.

Maggert, a 17-year-pro, is already tired of the Tiger bashing that has erupted in the past week since the No. 1 player in the world announced he would be skipping the first of the four events that make up golf's new postseason. The difference between Tiger's intentions and Tiger's attendance mirror those of more players than you might think, Maggert said.

"Probably half the players out here couldn't care less about it," he said of the FedExCup. "The other half are indifferent."

That's hardly the marketing phrase Tour officials want to hear heading into the playoffs, and if Maggert's feelings reflect anything close to those of the rest of the players, Finchem's postseason playoff experiment is doomed.

"I hear a lot being written, but I don't see anybody writing anything about Finchem," Maggert said. "I mean, this was his idea. He really didn't consult any of the players. He kind of shoved it down our throats and said, 'This is what we're going to do.' "

While other players were less critical, not many chose to criticize Woods. Most see his absence next week as an opportunity. The PGA Tour's own models include no examples of a player winning the FedExCup without playing all four of the events.

"If anyone can do it, he can," Tour spokesman Steve Dennis said.

Maggert knows he'll be on the Tour's bad side for a while, but he suggested Saturday it was time to make a statement that will be heard.

"They don't listen to us," he said.

Maggert, unlike Woods, believes the season needs to play to the end. He also believes players should be able to compete as they please without being pressured to play in gimmick points races for contrived titles and TV ratings.

"To me, the season goes all year long, and to try and concoct some four-week, made-for-TV show basically, I don't think it's a good idea," he said. "To have season-long points and have a champion at the end of the year, fine. Make it go the whole year and don't end it with two months to go in the season.

"No, I don't blame Tiger at all. If I was in his shoes I'd be doing the same thing. There's no reason for him to have incentive to play four weeks in a row. Why should he? Obviously, he has a system to prepare for (major) tournaments, and why should he change that? It's just a fact of life, but they're trying to make this FedExCup thing for TV ratings or whatever. The fact is, when Tiger plays, TV ratings are good. When he doesn't play, they're not so good."

Maggert said it's a shame for FedEx, which is a sponsor all the players seem to respect, and for events such as the Wyndham Championship, which is a tournament most of the players say they respect.

"The perception now is that if Tiger's not playing, then the tournament's not any good. It's a second-rate tournament," he said. "There are great golfers out here. Just because Tiger Woods isn't here, they think the tournament is not a big tournament anymore because he's not playing. I mean, this tournament has been a great tournament for years and years. It's been one of our best tournaments."

Woods has the power to make or break the playoff system. He also has the power to make or break tournaments. If he would come to Greensboro just one time he could give it a boost that would last for years. He's even powerful in his absence.

The storyline in golf this week has nothing to do with Greensboro and everything to do with Woods not playing next week. That's power. And that's a major problem for the PGA Tour.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ehardin@news-record.com