Arnold Palmer weighed in on Tiger Woods' decision not to make the Arnold Palmer Invitational his first event back on the PGA Tour since his Thanksgiving night crash and subsequent scandal.

"We are all disappointed that Tiger isn’t going to play our tournament at Bay Hill, but, all things considered, we certainly understand," Palmer said.

"I talked to Tiger on the phone this morning and he expressed his regrets that he won’t be playing here. He said that he really didn’t feel his game was sharp enough to begin competition this early."

"As for Tiger’s decision to play at the Masters without playing a tournament beforehand, that’s something only the player himself knows how to handle. Certainly he knows what he wants to do with his life and the way he is going to deal with it. We’re going to give him that respect."

Tiger will be missing the Bay Hill event for the first time in his career.  To this point, it was the only event that Woods had played every year of his professional career.