Woods seeks second win

Tiger Woods will be looking for only his second victory of the season when he heads a strong overseas field at the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan this weekend.

Woods, whose lone success this year came nine months ago at the Accenture Match Play Championship, will be joined in Miyazaki by an array of golf’s leading stars such as Open champion Todd Hamilton, two-time Phoenix winner Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke, Stewart Cink and KJ Choi.

Woods previously visited this event in 2002, but finished a disappointing eighth – six shots behind surprise winner Kaname Yokoo.

However, the former world number one is bound to have been boosted by his second-place at the Tour Championship two weeks ago and will once again be amongst the favourites at the Phoenix Country Club.

Last year’s champion Bjorn will be back to defend his title but could be considered an outsider after a poor season.

The unpredictable Dane has had a disappointing year, even claiming that “demons” were blocking his view of the fairway before walking off the course six holes into the Irish Open.

But he did show signs of improvement during two good performances last month and cannot be written off at a tournament he has won twice in the last five seasons.

Although he will be making his debut appearance at Phoenix, it will almost be like a homecoming for Open champion Todd Hamilton.

The previously unheralded American won 11 tournaments in 12 seasons while competing on the Japanese tour – four of them in 2003 – before moving on to the more lucrative US Tour last year.

Cink and Choi are also expected to be in the running but will have to show huge improvements on the poor form they have shown so far this season.