Tiger Woods refused to be drawn into the controversy surrounding the absence of some leading compatriots when he arrived here yesterday for the $5 million American Express Championship, starting tomorrow. "They're at home getting ready for the holiday season," he said innocently.
The full picture of American non-involvement, however, has to be a source of concern for the game's authorities on both sides of the Atlantic. Of the 10 US players in the top-20 of the world rankings, only Woods and Justin Leonard are here. And as many as 13 US Tour players in the world's top-50 are missing, including Phil Mickelson and Davis Love.
It clearly represents an additional headache for the European Tour at a time when the players have appointed the elite quartet of Seve Ballesteros, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer to demand that the tour's books be opened to independent auditors. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing: the players are simply seeking greater transparency as, for instance, the US players sought regarding the disbursement of Ryder Cup funds last year.
Meanwhile, the stay-away Americans could be viewed as having a negative effect on Darren Clarke's chances of winning the Order of Merit next Sunday. There will be more money available to allow challengers Lee Westwood, Ernie Els, Thomas Bjorn, Michael Campbell and even Colin Montgomerie (who has now risen to ninth in the world rankings), to overtake the Tyroneman.
On the other hand, it could be argued that in a limited field of 55 players - the absentees are not replaced - Clarke has a greater opportunity to increase his lead of £64,000. A benefit for those who finish slightly down the field on Sunday is that the player in 26th will now receive a handsome $50,000. Interestingly, Woods would be certain of his third successive Order of Merit title were he a European Tour member. As it is, he will have to satisfy himself with the target of becoming the first player to win 10 US Tour events in a year since Sam Snead secured 11 in 1950.
But from a personal standpoint, there is a more inviting target. "One of my biggest goals at the beginning of the year was to break the $10 million mark in tournament earnings for the season." Given current earnings of $9,030,821, nothing less than victory on Sunday will be enough to realise that ambition. As it happened, Woods made this trip to Europe on the eve on his country's presidential election. But before leaving home in Orlando, he performed his civic duty through an absentee ballot in the pivotal state of Florida. And how did he vote? "NC (no comment)," came the reply, with one of those special smiles.
How would he feel about becoming president? "I've been president of my class," he replied. "Mainly it involved making sure that we had our lunches longer and homework shorter. You know, the important things."
A cynical view of Woods' presence here is that he is simply fulfilling a contractual obligation to American Express. But it goes much further than that. He is a genuine international player who believes that he must continue to experience tournament golf in other countries if he is to reach full potential.
"In order to be the world's best, you have to play around the world. It is an educational process which I quite enjoy. People's expectations of me has no bearing on what I do. I feel an overwhelming sense of pride and joy at the way I played during the past year, especially the big events - the major championships, our Players' Championship, Tour Championship and the World Golf Championship events. That's ultimately what you want to have happen."
But he gave a clear pointer to the misguided timing of this particular fixture when he added that the absentee Americans viewed their Tour Championship as "traditionally the end of the season".
For the most part, Woods was decidedly subdued on his return to a venue where he achieved almost the impossible by winning last year's tournament despite a triple bogey eight at the long, 71st hole, where a soft, nine-iron third shot rolled off the green to a watery grave.
"That was one of the best rounds I ever played," he said of a closing 68 which got him into a play-off with Miguel Angel Jimenez, whom he beat on the first tie hole.
While a number of his compatriots clearly thought of last Sunday as the season's end, Woods raised a few eyebrows by insisting that five months of the year still remained, as far as the modern Grand Slam is concerned. In other words, as holder of the US Open, British Open and USPGA Championship, he believes that he will be entitled to claim the Grand Slam if he wins the US Masters next April.
"If I'm holding all four titles, I think that's it," he said. But had all of them not to be in the same year? "If I hold all four at one time, whether that's one year or not, all four is all four." But hadn't he said that the Grand Slam was all four in one year? "I never said that. You guys said that."
Then, through the miracles of modern transport, Woods had time to drop into his hotel and the locker-room here, meet with the media and be hitting balls on the practice ground in little more than 90 minutes after his private jet had landed in Gibraltar.
