TOUR NEWS:TIGER WOODS has closed the door on his season's work, after announcing last night the would not play in this week's Chevron World Challenge – a tournament he hosts with the proceeds donated to his charitable foundation – and confirming he would not return to competition until the New Year, at a time to be decided.

Woods’s absence, though, has benefited Graeme McDowell. The Ulsterman – who narrowly lost out to Italy in the World Cup when partnering Rory McIlroy last Sunday – has answered a late SOS from the organisers of the €3.8 million tournament to ensure it stays as an elite 18-man field with official world ranking points on offer.

The call-up to join the elite field in Sherwood which features three of this year’s major winners is a huge bonus to McDowell, who has fallen to 55th in the latest world rankings.

McDowell’s manager, Conor Ridge, actually got the call to put his player on standby for the event shortly before the final round of the World Cup. Confirmation that McDowell – who needs to get back into the world’s top-50 by the end of December to earn an invite to next year’s US Masters – was in the field came last night with Woods’s decision not to play.

In a statement issued on his website last night, Woods – who has hosted the season-ending tournament for the past nine years and has emerged as the winner on four occasions – said, “I am extremely disappointed that I will not be at my tournament this week. I am certain it will be an outstanding event and I’m sorry that I can’t be there.”

Woods, who had been scheduled to give a press conference today, has decided instead to remain at home in Flordia where police have an on-going investigation into the crash.

Woods crashed his SUV into a fire hydrant outside his Windemere home in the early hours of Friday and then into a neighbour’s tree which led to the world number one being treated in hospital for facial lacerations.

He has denied Florida Highway Patrol police officers an interview and engaged high-profile lawyer Mark NeJame to represent him as the crash investigation continues.

Although Woods’s absence is sure to affect the tournament, it is one which McDowell and Pádraig Harrington will see as an opportunity to finish the year on a high.

McDowell is without a win since the Scottish Open last year and Harrington’s only win of the year came in the domestic Irish PGA championship in July.

Harrington is planning to combine his quest for a late-season tournament success with a visit the Titleist Performance Institute.