Adam Scott edged out playing partner Ian Poulter in a final day shootout to break a 15-month tournament drought and claim his first gold jacket at the Australian Masters in Melbourne.

The race for the gold jacket at the Australian Masters is between Ian Poulter and Adam Scott after they stamped their authority on the tournament with superb third rounds at Kingston Heath in Melbourne.

Only a short few years ago, the chances of any player leading the orders of merit on both the PGA and European Tours were slim in the extreme.

Rory McIlroy’s goal of ending the season as European No. 1 has received a huge boost with his five nearest rivals, including closest challenger Peter Hanson, deciding not to contest two of the last three events on this year’s schedule.

While a Rory McIlroy-inspired Shane Lowry muscles his way into contention, Graeme McDowell was lucky he didn’t break his hand on day two of the WGC–HSBC Champions event in Shenzhen.

Local favourite Geoff Ogilvy produced a brilliant eight-under-par third round of 63 to replace Ian Poulter at the top of the JBWere Australian Masters leaderboard.

Ian Poulter put world number one Luke Donald in the shade to seize the lead after the opening round of the 2011 JBWere Australian Masters.

A chronic back injury threatens to derail Stuart Appleby's defence of his JBWere Australian Masters title at Victoria Golf Club in Melbourne.

THE final event of the European Tour season was won by the man who has been the circuit’s biggest hitter for a stunning four of the last five years.

Greg Chalmers overcame Robert Allenby and Marcus Fraser in a play-off to add the Australian PGA Championship to his recent Australian Open win.

SCOTT VERPLANK was vying with Steve Stricker at the top of the leaderboard last night but Tiger Woods was in freefall as he stared at the prospect of his first PGA Championship missed cut in 14 starts.

Tiger Woods will today continue his search for a new caddie after parting company with Steve Williams, having working with the New Zealander since March 1999.

TIGER WOODS will not be at Sandwich for next week’s Open Championship — the second time he has missed the event in four years.

Tiger Woods will not be at Sandwich for next week’s Open Championship – the second time he has missed the event in four years.

Tiger Woods will begin his 2011 season at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego next week.

Tiger Woods’ hopes of ending his title drought ended in a playoff as Graeme McDowell stormed back to win the Chevron World Challenge.

Tiger Woods is top of the leaderboard after the opening round of the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, California.

Daniel Gaunt joined fellow Australians Alistair Presnell and Adam Bland in the lead at six-under after the opening round of the Australian Masters at Victoria Golf Club in Melbourne.

Tiger Woods was bullish over his prospects heading into this week’s Australian Masters as he prepared for the defence of his last remaining title.

GRAEME MCDOWELL understands why Rory McIlroy quit the US Tour while Pádraig Harrington is anxious to discuss the decision with the Ulster star.

LEE WESTWOOD has strengthened his place at the top of the world rankings and re-ignited his bid to retain the European Tour’s Race to Dubai order of merit by finishing a stroke behind Francesco Molinari in the HSBC World Championship in Shanghai.

TIGER WOODs returned to his mother’s home country for a four-man charity skins tournament yesterday and left soon after winning only one hole in another disappointing performance.

SPANIARD Sergio Garcia declared himself a contender to win this week’s Australian Masters as he continues his comeback from a self-imposed exile from the game.

LEE WESTWOOD has been officially confirmed as golf’s new world number one.

Lee Westwood will be confirmed as the new world number one tomorrow morning after Martin Kaymer failed to achieve the top-two finish required in the Andalucia Masters.

TIGER WOODS last night suffered his worst tournament finish as a professional in the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio – but still held onto his position as world number one.

Australia’s Marcus Fraser won the Ballantine’s Championship today by four shots as a battling three-under-par 69 final round secured a wire-to-wire win and first victory in seven years.

FOR reasons that are as different as a birdie is to a bogey, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have not been totally involved in the business of the PGA Tour for months now.

Some remarkable players produced some remarkable scores on the opening day of The Masters – and Tiger Woods was amongst them with a four under par 68, his best start at Augusta by two shots.

It was going to take something special to take at least part of the attention away from Tiger Woods on the opening day of The Masters – but 60-year-old Tom Watson managed it.

TIGER WOODS arrived without warning on a lazy Sunday afternoon at the Masters.

HOW Tiger Woods acts is going to be put under the microscope as much as what he says and what he scores when he returns to golf this week.

Padraig Harrington is torn when it comes to the hullabaloo surrounding the return of Tiger Woods at Augusta next week.

TIGER WOODS might be the bookies’ favourite to win his fifth green jacket but Rory McIlroy believes a new generation of European stars are ready to make a mark in this year’s majors.

GOLFING legend Jack Nicklaus and former Ryder Cup-winning captain Tony Jacklin have expressed surprise that Tiger Woods will end his five-month self-imposed exile at the US Masters in Augusta.

THE countdown to Tiger Woods’ return to golf began yesterday when he announced he is to start his comeback in The Masters at Augusta.

Tiger Woods is making his comeback at The Masters between April 8-11, the golfer has confirmed.

THE Tiger Woods waiting and guessing game goes on – just when it looked as if a date for his comeback was going to be announced.

The Tiger Woods waiting and guessing game goes on – just when it looked as if a date for his comeback was going to be announced.

WITH mounting speculation Tiger Woods could be only two weeks away from his comeback, England’s Paul Casey said yesterday he would like to be right up close when it happens.

TIGER WOODS is back on the practice tee and working to get back on the course.

THE longer Tiger Woods turns his back on golf the worse it will be for the professional game.

It is now nearly 50 days since Tiger Woods crashed his car into a fire hydrant and a tree – and still there is no word on his whereabouts or when he might resume his career.

TIGER WOODS’ €1.9 million appearance fee for playing in the Australian Masters in November has paid dividends for the Victorian state economy.