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NORTON - The scene: Media day at the Tournament Players Club of Boston where New England sports journalists gather to get a preview of this year's Deutsche Bank Championship.

Tournament officials describe what's ahead for the tournament, praising the field competing for the $1.26 million top prize in the PGA Tour's only Boston area stop - though seldom mentioning that the world's top golfer, Tiger Woods, will not be there. Young PGA Tour pros Anthony Kim and Brandt Snedeker say how the players are looking forward to the wide open field with Woods out for the season with a knee injury.

But then it's Seth Waugh's chance to speak.

"I guess we've got to talk about the elephant in the (living room), said Waugh, CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas and the man most responsible for bringing the PGA Tour to the part of Norton once know as the Great Woods. "Obviously, we're all disappointed that Tiger is not here."

The question, as 120 of the world's best golfers gather this week for the sixth annual Deutsche Bank Championship, is whether sports fans will be similarly disappointed. Will spectators continue to flock to the PGA Tour-owned links off Route 140 as they have since the tourney began in 2003? Or will interest and attendance be down without the sport's top attraction? There is no doubt that Woods' status as the tournament's de facto host - the Tiger Woods Foundation is the event's chief charity beneficiary and so he has played each year, winning in 2006 and finishing second twice - has helped elevate the Deutsche Bank Tournament to the point that it can legitimately claim to be one of America's top 10 tourneys.

As a result, tournament officials just don't know what life will be like without Woods.

"The entire game of golf is obviously disappointed every week that he's not around," Waugh said. "He's the biggest guy on the planet. ... That's hard to replace."

Tournament officials say they are confident that this year will be as successful as the first five.

Only in the tournament's inaugural year, 2003, did the Deutsche Bank Championship sell out quickly, said tournament director Eric Baldwin. Last year, even though Woods was in attendance and the tourney was part of the PGA Tour's first-ever playoffs, the event was not a sellout until a couple of days before the opening round, he said.

Baldwin said he is hopeful that fans will buy the few remaining tickets in the next few days and that the tourney will sell out again this year.

"We're pacing well for ticket sales," he said, "on about the same track as last year, so we're very optimistic even though Tiger's not in the field."

The tournament has sold out of corporate sponsorships each year, and that's true again in 2008.

"There's really not a lot more to sell there," Baldwin said.

But there are signs of concern. Without Woods, Nielsen ratings for the last two major tournaments were dramatically lower, despite back-to-back inspiring victories by Irishman Padraig Harrington. The PGA Championship on CBS had a final-round overnight rating of 3.0, a drop of 55 percent from last year when Woods won. And the final round of the British Open on ABC had an overnight rating of 3.5, a decrease of 14.6 percent from last year.

A Tiger-less tourney is especially difficult due to this year's weak economy and high gas prices, Baldwin acknowledges, with more consumers having less expendable cash to spend on tickets and traveling to Norton.

And the timing of the tournament also presents a challenge to the PGA Tour and tournament organizers. The Boston Red Sox are in the midst of a pennant race, and the New England Patriots are about to kick off a new season. Those teams have a stranglehold on New England sports fans' interest, especially when the Deutsche Bank Championship doesn't have its star attraction.

There is even competition from golf itself. The top American players will square off against their counterparts from Europe for the Ryder Cup beginning Sept. 19, a tournament that has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years. The final four Americans on the U.S. team will be announced the day after the Deutsche Bank Championship.

To counter that threat, tournament officials are emphasizing that the Deutsche Bank Championship is still part of the PGA Tour's playoffs, known as the FedEx Cup, guaranteeing that 120 of the world's top players will be in Norton when play begins on Friday. Woods' absence, they point out, opens up the field and increases the chances of drama when the tourney wraps up about 6 p.m. on Labor Day.

"We believe the quality and depth of the field will be second to none, and this is what our fans have come to expect," Baldwin said.

"Without Tiger we actually have a chance now, so it's kind of nice," Snedeker said. "I hate to say it, but it's kind of nice not to have him here beating up on us every week, but he'll be back next year."

And, financial expert Waugh is banking on the early success of the tournament's short history to attract crowds to Norton. TPC Boston, he notes, was the scene of a changing of the guard in 2004 when Vijay Singh temporarily unseated Woods as the world's top player, an overwhelming victory by Woods two years later and last year's Tiger-Phil Mickelson duel that most golf observers said was 2007's most exciting tournament.

"We've always managed to have great theater on the weekend and certainly on Monday," Waugh said. "We've had a great story and great winners every year, and we obviously expect the same thing this year."

MIKE KIRBY can be reached at 508-236-0344 or at mkirby@thesunchronicle.com.