Ernie Els is expected to be back in action at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson on Wednesday after a sore neck kept him out of last week’s Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles.

Ian Poulter is set to start the defence of his WGC-Accenture Match Play title against 2009 Open champion Stewart Cink if all the world’s top 64 show up in Tucson next week.

DESPITE all that is read into the fact America won the last Ryder Cup without Tiger Woods and lost the previous three with him, there seems no way Corey Pavin will choose to bring a Tiger-less team to Celtic Manor in three weeks’ time.

Despite all that is read into the fact America won the last Ryder Cup without Tiger Woods and lost the previous three with him, there seems no way Corey Pavin will choose to bring a Tiger-less team to Celtic Manor in three weeks’ time.

Only four weeks until the Ryder Cup and still golf fans do not know for sure whether Tiger Woods is going to be there.

Sweden’s Peter Hanson is up to 40th in the world, a rise of nine places, with his victory at the Czech Open.

ANOTHER major ended in anticlimax for Tiger Woods last night as a wide-open USPGA Championship built towards an exciting conclusion at Whistling Straits without the world number one.

A NEW week, a new start.

Tiger Woods now says he will play in the Ryder Cup if American captain Corey Pavin offers him a wild card.

US RYDER CUP captain Corey Pavin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry after surveying the leaderboard at the end of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in Akron.

Sergio Garcia is down to 50th in the world and is in an even more precarious Ryder Cup position than Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods tonight suffered his worst tournament finish as a professional - but still held onto his position as world number one.

Tiger Woods today slumped to a closing round of 77 to cap a miserable week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Phil Mickelson made an uncertain start to his third round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational as he looked to close in on the world number one ranking.

Phil Mickelson recovered from a poor start in his latest bid to depose Tiger Woods as world number one by shooting a four-under-par 66 in the opening round of the Bridgestone Invitational.

EUROPEAN Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie today names his two vice captains for October’s renewal against the United States but is facing tougher selection problems over his three wild-card picks for Celtic Manor.

Rory McIlroy, the kid many expect to be king one day, put himself into golf’s record books with a sensational start to The Open at St Andrews today.

The new US Open champion Graeme McDowell will have to wait until just before 2pm on Thursday when he tees off with two former winners of that title, Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy at the Open in St Andrews.

Padraig Harrington drops out of the top 10 in the world after he missed the cut in The Augusta Masters at the weekend.

Tiger Woods will play with fellow American Matt Kuchar and Korean KJ Choi in the first two rounds of The Masters on Thursday and Friday.

Padraig Harrington's joint-eighth result at the Transitions Championship over the weekend has kept in the world top 10.

Rory McIlroy has been knocked out of the world’s top 10 following his dismal showing at the WGC-CA Championship.

Padraig Harrington has dropped from 10th to 13th in the world after finishing in a tie for 40th at the Honda Classic in Florida.

GRAEME McDOWELL, pictured, has kept his place in the world’s top 50 and will therefore be part of the field for next week’s WGC-CA Championship in Miami.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell has kept his place in the world’s top 50 and will therefore be part of the field for next week’s WGC-CA Championship in Miami.

Rory McIlroy pulled a brilliant victory from the jaws of defeat when the WGC-Accenture World Match Play Championship began in Tucson today.

Europe provides seven of the top 10 seeds in this week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship after Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both decided not to play.

The wait for Tiger Woods’ return to golf goes on. He will definitely not be playing next week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.

Irish golfer Rory McIlroy is back amongst the top 10 golfers in the world today following the publication of updated rankings.

GEOFF OGILVY repeated his season-opening success of 12 months ago in Hawaii but promised not to make the same mistakes that led to a slump in form during the height of the campaign.

Scot Martin Laird is up to 84th in the world after his fourth-placed finish at the US Tour-opening SBS Championship in Hawaii.

Geoff Ogilvy successfully defended his title at Kapalua as he won the season-opening SBS Championship by a stroke in Hawaii.

RORY MCILROY has reached a higher position on the world rankings than any other 20-year-old before him.

Rory McIlroy has reached a higher position on the world rankings than any other 20-year-old before him.

Jim Furyk’s victory at the Chevron World Challenge has moved him from 11th to sixth in the world rankings pushing 20-year-old Rory McIlroy out of the top 10 after he withdrew ill from the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa.

Padraig Harrington believes the game of golf is well placed to recover from the negative publicity surrounding the current scandal involving Tiger Woods.

RORY MCILROY still had something to cheer last night despite missing out on the European Tour number one spot – he has joined Sergio Garcia as the only 20-year-olds ever to make the world’s top 10.

Europe’s leading money winner Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter are both at career-high places in the world rankings as they enter the season-ending Dubai World Championship.

There are now more Europeans than Americans in the world’s top 20 after tournament victories for Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher took them to 15th and 17th respectively – both personal bests.

England’s Ross McGowan has moved up 61 places to 116th in the world rankings after his Madrid Masters victory.

A late rally from the International team kept the United States’ Presidents Cup lead at just one point heading into the weekend after the fourball matches in San Francisco.

The United States took an early lead in foursomes over the International team at Harding Park as the Presidents Cup got underway in San Francisco.

Phil Mickelson will not let a sore back dampen his excitement at leading off the United States’ Presidents Cup defence alongside Ryder Cup playing partner Anthony Kim tonight in San Francisco.

Phil Mickelson came from four shots back to win the Tour Championship in Georgia but Tiger Woods was the biggest winner as he took a $10m (€6.79m) bonus as the season-long FedEx Cup champion.