Tiger returns to fitness

Tiger Woods has declared himself fully fit for his return to action in the American Express Championship in San Francisco this week.

Woods injured two ribs while helping the United States win the Presidents Cup last month in Virginia and needed treatment on the course during his fourball victory with Jim Furyk on the second day.

The world number one, who claimed two and a half points out of five despite losing to Retief Goosen in their singles clash on the final day, has been receiving treatment since then and is looking forward to trying to claim his 11th World Golf Championship title in 21 events.

“I’m feeling much better,” said Woods, who has won the event three times. “I was able to go at it full speed and should be 100% for the tournament.

”I’ve played through some circumstances that I don’t normally have to play, but the team needed me and I tried to do my best to get points. I wish I could have done better for the guys and made their drive a little easier on Sunday.”

Around 70 players will compete for the $1.2m (€1m) first prize at Harding Park, a significantly renovated public course measuring 7,086 yards with a par of 70.

The field is comprised of the top 50 players from the world rankings and leaders of the money list on the six major golf tours around the world.

The most notable absentee is defending champion Ernie Els who won the title at Mount Juliet in Ireland last year but is still recovering from knee surgery.

“How can you not get up for tournaments as big as these?” added Woods, who also won the NEC Invitational for a fourth time in August. “These are the best players in the world and you’re going head to head against them. That’s why these tournaments were started.”

The tournament is also a homecoming of sorts for Woods who played two years of college golf at Stanford University, about 45 minutes south of San Francisco, and played Harding Park when he was a student.

“It will be fun to see old friends,” Woods added on his personal website, www.tigerwoods.com. “But my main priority is to win the tournament.”

The 29-year-old American has five victores this year, including the US Masters and Open championship and leads the PGA Tour.

No European player has ever won the American Express title – Canada’s Mike Weir the other champion apart from Woods and Els – but the likes of Colin Montgomerie, Sergio Garcia, Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley and David Howell will be hoping to put an end to that statistic when the tournament gets underway on Thursday.

Montgomerie moved up to 16th in the world with his first tournament win for 19 months in the Dunhill Links championship on Monday while Harrington – third at St Andrews – has won twice in America this year.

Donald is still looking for his first win of the season but was joint leader with Woods at Firestone before finishing sixth alongside Ryder Cup team-mate Howell, while McGinley – runner up in the World Match Play at Wentworth – was one shot ahead of them in a share of third.