Notes and quotes as the 132-man field takes final shape for the FBR Open:

Next week’s tournament at the TPC of Scottsdale took a major hit when Scottsdale’s Arron Oberholser was forced to withdraw this week due to a back injury he incurred during the Mercedes Championship. Even worse for “AO,’’ he said he probably won’t be able to defend his title in two weeks at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

“I have not officially ‘WD-ed,’ but I’m 95 percent sure I won’t be defending my title, and I called them last night and told them that,’’ said Oberholser, who finished tied for 10 th at the FBR last year and then ran away the following week to win by five shots over Rory Sabbatini at Pebble Beach.

“I’m thinking the earliest I’ll be back is the World Match Play in Tucson, assuming I’m still among the top 64 players in the world.’’

Chances are Oberholser, who currently is ranked No. 46, will still be sitting pretty. But he’s worried, as this is the third time in the past four years that a disc problem in the back has sidelined him.

“Imagine the disc is a jelly-filled donut, and when the donut gets compressed the jelly leaks out and causes a bump or a protrusion on the surface of the donut, and that in turn affects a nerve ending,’’ Oberholser said, attempting to put the injury into layman’s terms.

“So that protrusion has been poking at my nerve ending, which then is radiating pain down my leg.’’

The injury has become more of a “trend,’’ he said, and he plans to do something about it in the near future.

“My training is all screwed up. I’ve been going for strength and power, and I should have been going for endurance,’’ Oberholser said. “That’s what Tiger’s been doing for the past five years – endurance training -- and that’s what I’m going to have to do if I want to get healthy and stay healthy.’’

Missing the FBR Open and Pebble Beach is “no fun, that’s for sure,’’ but Oberholser said he’s in no rush to return until he feels “100 percent.’’

“This is serious stuff,’’ he said. “It’s the same type of injury that basically took Notah Begay and Carl Pettersson down. I’ve got to be very careful.’’

MORE INJURIES

Also on the injury list is Jonathan Kaye, who has yet to play in 2007. The 2004 FBR Open champ said he hopes to make his season debut at the TPC, “But it will be wait-and-see, probably a game-time decision.’’

The Phoenix pro is suffering from a painful injury to his big toe, which he had operated on in December. The “turf toe’’ is still hurting, and it gets worse when he’s walking, which there is a lot of in professional golf.

Another local, Scottsdale’s Joey Snyder, was hoping he’d be back for the FBR, but his name is missing from the commitment list. Snyder, who was not available for comment, has not played since last spring due to a bizarre neck injury. He did receive a medical exemption from the Tour to play this season.

NO CASEY AT THE BAT

Former Arizona State All-American Paul Casey has decided to play in the Dubai Desert Classic, which runs the same week as the FBR. Even though Casey lives in Scottsdale, and recently played in the Desert Marlin Pro-Am at Grayhawk Golf Club, he hasn’t played here in three years.

Hopefully, Casey is over the rift involving his misconstrued remarks about Americans being “stupid.’’ And since he was the European PGA Tour’s player of the year in 2006, he would have been one of the higher-ranked players here, as he currently stands No. 13 in the world.

Last week, Casey captured the Abu Dhabi Classic with a closing 65 he called “my best round as a professional.’’ Casey credited his Grayhawk-based instructor, Peter Kostis, for getting his game in shape over the past two weeks.

STOP MAKING SENSE

On the surface, the Dubai Desert Classic pales with its $2.4 million purse compared to the FBR Open’s $6 million payout. But then when you factor in all of the appearance money, it is somewhat understandable why guys like Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Casey venture into the Middle East.

According to Alistair Tait, who covers the European Tour for Golfweek, paying players to play on the European Tour has been banned, but organizers get around it by paying the top guys for competing in a pre-tournament shootout, in this case the Jumeirah Challenge.

Reportedly, Tiger is getting a $3 million fee, and players like Els get in the neighborhood of $500,000 to $1 million. There are other perks, Tait said, “Like the (top pros) get to stay at the seven-star Burj Al Arab Hotel, the one Tiger hit balls off the top of last year.’’

According to another golf writer who recently visited Dubai, David Owen of Golf Digest, “ Dubai is so surreal it makes Las Vegas look homey.’’ But chances of a terrorist attack “are almost nil.’’

“Tiger never steps foot on anything but the golf course, as he is whisked by helicopter from site to site,’’ Owen said. “But ( Dubai) is only 100 miles from Tehran, and all of those other scary places in the world.’’