Woods Ineligible for a WGC Event for the first Time

Tiger Woods will be doing something he has never done in his career when the WGC HSBC Champion event is played this week in Shanghai, China -- He will not be in the event.

For the first time since 1999, he is not eligible to participate in a World Golf Championship (WGC) tournament.

Woods' struggles in the past two years in the world of golf have been well documented. Almost, too well documented for many.

The former No. 1 player in the world has seen his personal life and professional life take a major hit.

Woods is now ranked 56th in the OWGR, therefore making him ineligible for this weeks HSBC Champion event.

All of this coming from a player that has dominated the four WGC events in years past.

He has racked up 16 wins in 36 tournaments in the WGC, including at least one per year stemming back to 1999. That's almost a 45% win percentage against the top-50 players in the world.

Woods has now watched his world ranking drop lower and lower over the past two years. If his world ranking drops too much further, he will also miss out on the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship as well.

An event he won in 2003, 2004 and 2008.

That event is held in February and is only open to the top 64 players in the world golf rankings.

With his current descent down the OWGR, that could be a real possibility for Woods come early 2012.