A Tiger treat’s looming

Woods given green light

With American team captain Tiger Woods hinting he may play more than the minimum two matches at next week’s Presidents Cup in Melbourne, Australian fans are likely to see plenty of the 15time major winner.

Sources inside Woods’ camp have suggested he will play up to four matches at Royal Melbourne.

The four are believed to be the Thursday four-ball and Friday foursome sessions, as well as the Saturday morning four-ball, before all players contest the Sunday singles.

The US PGA Tour, the organiser of the biennial team event, tweaked the rules for next week’s edition and reduced the minimum number of matches outside the singles from two to one.

Some feared Woods, who missed large portions of the US PGA Tour season this year with injury, would play only the mandatory two.

But given he has shown flashes of his brilliant best this year, winning a fifth Masters green jacket in April and the US Tour’s recent Zozo Championship in Japan, it’s believed Woods has a green light to play as much as he wants.

The soon-to-be 44-year-old is in contention at his charity’s event in the Bahamas, the Hero World Challenge, sharing fifth place, six shots behind outright leader Patrick Reed after the second round.

Woods and the American team will leave the Bahamas on Saturday night and arrive in Australia on Monday morning.

His tournament began a day earlier than usual to accommodate golfers travelling to Australia. The field includes all but one member of the 12player US team.

Asked by reporters how many matches he would play, Woods joked: “Yeah, I’m playing a minimum of two. Does that help you?

“We have game plans for next week. We’ve got guys that haven’t played. D.J. (Dustin Johnson) is coming off an injury, a surgery.

“We’re going to take it day by day, see how guys feel.

“We’re going to communicate with one another and work through it.”

Woods, who equalled the US PGA Tour’s winning record with his 82nd title in Japan, said the arthroscopic surgery he underwent on his knee in August had improved his mobility.

“I can drive the ball a little bit better because I can rotate,” he said. “I can putt the ball better because I can get down and read putts again.”