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GREENSBORO - A year ago, when the Wyndham Championship's field looked less like a PGA Tour event and more like member-guest affair, tournament officials privately blamed their lot on an outdated venue and a undesirable date.

Wyndham officials - not to mention a few golfers - believe the tournament solved the first problem by moving to Sedgefield. They're hoping Tiger Woods' absence from the FedEx Cup race solves the latter.

"You hated to see Tiger go down, but now the FedEx is wide-open, much like the British Open was wide-open without him," said tournament director Mark Brazil. "I think guys are going to maybe view (the Wyndham) a little differently as we get closer."

The Wyndham's Aug. 14-17 date falls directly after the PGA Championship - a week many tour players spent at home to freshen up for the FedEx Cup playoffs that followed.

Brazil believes Woods' season-ending knee surgery last month has a few tour players giving the Wyndham a second look.

Some already have. Vijay Singh, the world's 15th-ranked golfer, intends to play here, his first trip to Greensboro since 1999. If he follows through on his commitment (golfers have until the Friday before a tournament to back out), he would be a major coup for a tournament desperately seeking significance.

Golfer David Toms believes the Wyndham will have a strong field this year and an even stronger one in 2009 after players spend a week at Sedgefield. Wyndham Championship chairman Bobby Long flew Toms in last fall to play the course.

"There's something about the old tree-lined courses a lot of guys grew up playing," said Toms. "You don't see them on the tour anymore and I think players will respond to that."

He said Sedgefield will be a refreshing change for players wanting something different from the typical tour course.

"Everything about TPC golf, the network of courses, that brand of corporate golf is all the same," he said. "There are a lot of guys who like the old-style courses where the corridors are well designed and there's not a lot of room that you have to take a shuttle just to get to the next tee. I guarantee you're going to see players are going to want to play (Sedgefield) - young and old players - if not this year then next."

In recent years, Greensboro's field strength - or lack thereof - has been a touchy subject among tournament officials. Five years ago, the tournament moved to the fall and included five of the world's top 10 players: Davis Love III, Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen, David Toms and Kenny Perry.

In the next four tournaments, only two top 10 players - No. 6 Sergio Garcia and No. 7 Adam Scott in 2005 - bothered to show up.

Last year the tournament bottomed out. So many tour golfers were exhausted from the scorching weather at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills that they skipped the Wyndham to rest up for the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Last-minute withdrawals by Love, Boo Weekley and K.J. Choi left Denmark's Anders Hansen, No. 40 at the time, the highest ranked golfer at Forest Oaks.

Brazil said there's reason to believe golfers won't be so quick to skip town this year. After the BMW Championship in St. Louis, the last of the three FedEx Cup playoffs, the tour will take a rare week off in September to allow golfers to rest for the Ryder Cup and the Tour Championship.

Brazil announced a slew of commitments Tuesday including two-time U.S. open champion Lee Janzen and Ryuji Imada, this year's AT&T Classic winner, and Richard S. Johnson, winner of last week's U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.

Others: J.B. Holmes, Johnson Waggoner, Brett Wetterich, Heath Slocum, D.J. Trahan and Vaughn Taylor.

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