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All eyes on Tiger now

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Posted by Anirudh Chandra 05 Oct 2011

Tiger Woods returns to competitive action this week and finds himself in yet another unfamiliar position.

A knee injury and revelations about his personal life contributed to him being deposed as world number one almost a year ago after 281 consecutive weeks at the top.

Since then there has been a gradual decline due to ongoing fitness problems resulting in a reduced schedule.

Teeing up on Thursday in California at the Frys.com Open, his first event since missing the cut in August's US PGA, Woods is officially the 51st best golfer in the world currently.

He dropped out of the top 50 this week, the first time he has not been in that elite group since October 13. 1996 - a run of 778 consecutive weeks.

Woods' career has often been about the big numbers; whether it was his record-breaking spell as world number one, number of cuts made in majors or the vast amount of prize money he won.

However, it is the figure which is growing bigger by the week - namely the number of days since he last recorded a victory - which is becoming significant.

The American last won at the JBWere Australian Masters in November 2009 and it is probably that combined with his lack of competitive action - he obviously did not qualify for PGA Tour play-offs for the FedEx Cup - which has prompted him to play in a Fall Series event for the first time.

Dropping outside the top 50 usually has implications in terms of qualifying for certain events - such as the World Golf Championships - but Woods at least has plenty of time to rectify that.

Woods has been working hard on his game at his home in Florida since the USPGA Championship and reports in the United States suggest he shot a course-record 62 at Medalist, where he now spends most of his time practising, at the weekend.

That immediately had commentators recalling when he carded 59 at Isleworth, his former club base, prior to winning his first career major at the 1997 Masters.

It is safe to say much has changed since then, both on the course and off it for Woods and his fellow professionals.

But what is no different is the interest generated by the 14-time major winner, who returns to action complete with a new caddie in Joe LaCava.

It is unlikely any world number 51 will have ever have had so many people following his every shot.
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