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While the marriage between Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour is one made in marketing heaven, the relationship has been strained several times over the last decade when the player challenged the organization. Mostly, Woods won. Another such confrontation is brewing, only this time Tiger could find his adversary being his fellow players.

This spat involves the AT&T National, the new PGA Tour event in the Washington, D.C., area that has as its benefiting charity the Tiger Woods Foundation. With one hand, Woods bailed out the tour by filling the hole left by the abrupt departure of the International. With the other, Tiger took a slap at the rank and file by pushing for his event to be an invitational, which means fewer than 156 players will get a shot at a paycheck that week.

While details of the July 5-8 event aren't finalized, commissioner Tim Finchem indicated it will be a limited field such as the Memorial, hosted by Jack Nicklaus, and this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill (there are 10 other limited-field tournaments on tour). The Memorial has a minimum of 105 players, and Bay Hill has a minimum of 120. What Woods gains from a limited-field event is following in the footsteps of icons Palmer and Nicklaus. What he loses is the support of at least a few fellow tour members.

"It's the most totally wrong thing I've heard of in a long time; that's sticking it to the players," Rich Beem told The Associated Press.

"I was shocked when I heard that," said Brad Faxon who, along with Beem, is on the 16-member Player Advisory Council, which meets in April.

If the decision stands, it will represent a further stratification of the tour, which now has, in order of importance, the four major championships, three World Golf Championship events, four FedEx Cup playoff events, regular tour events Woods plays, tournaments he skips and the Fall Finish. Add to that list now events run by Tiger.

One of the worst-kept secrets in golf is that the PGA Tour needs Tiger Woods more than Tiger Woods needs the PGA Tour. Several times early in his career -- once involving security concerns and another over caddies wearing shorts -- Tiger threatened to take his considerable talents to the European Tour. As a result, the tour now has a security department and caddies can wear shorts.

What Finchem has done is smart. By giving Tiger a tournament on his terms, the commissioner has ensured Woods' long-term visibility on the tour, like Palmer and Nicklaus. Now Finchem needs to stand fast and back Tiger if push comes to shove over the AT&T National. That showdown can be avoided if the players wake up and remember purses have tripled because of Woods.

The situation brewing here -- a player revolt against the tour's most valuable player -- is both unprecedented and potentially ugly. Beem says the players can override the PGA Tour Board with a two-thirds majority. If that happens it will formalize what we already know. There is the Tiger Tour -- and then there is everything else. And the players will be biting the hand that has fed them well.

Ron Sirak is the executive editor of Golf World magazine.