Golf US Tour newsThe World number two Phil Mickelson has withdrawn from this week's BMW Championship in Illinois less than 24 hours after registering his third win of the year on the USPGA Tour.
The left-hander held off the challenge of Tiger Woods, with two birdies in the last three holes after a thrilling battle between the game's top two, to claim victory in the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston - the second tournament of four which make up the Fed-Ex Cup.
His absence in Lemont was not entirely unexpected, especially with the season-ending Tour Championship to follow next week.
"This decision was not an easy one to make and in no way is meant as disrespectful to the tour, or sending a message to anyone," Mickelson said in a statement.
"I've talked for weeks about needing to find a balance between my game, my business affairs and my family, and now is the time for me to take some time off."
Mickelson's withdrawal was perhaps the worst kept secret on the USPGA tour but it appears BMW Championship tournament director John Kaczkowski was not expecting it.
"I'm a little surprised," he said.
"I think everyone was under the understanding all the top players were committed to play."
Mickelson is not the only big name who will not tee it up at Cog Hill tomorrow.
British Open champion Padraig Harrington is also taking the week off, citing fatigue, while former Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer and Paul Goydos are also absent, cutting the field to 66 players.
None of the first three play-off events has attracted a full field, with world number one Woods the most notable absentee from the first while Ernie Els and Scott Verplank skipped the second.
Woods finished level with fellow Americans Arron Oberholser (69) and Brett Wetterich (70), two strokes behind Mickelson in Boston.
Most of the players and Tour officials agree that any assessment of the experiment should wait until the first edition has run its course.
"I won't have a good comment for you on the FedExCup for a couple years," Mickelson said.
"I've got to give it a fair chance to play out and see how the individual events go and see how the overall chase for the Cup goes.
"The first year we're going to need to do a few tweaks, and I'm curious to see how next year's scheduling is going to be. My favourite thing about the FedExCup is the way the pairings go straight down the points list. It leads to some excitement and I had a lot of fun on the golf course being able to play three rounds with Tiger and a couple with Vijay (Singh)."
