Tiger’s strokeplay return live on Ten Sports

MUMBAI, March 13: If the World Golf Championship was just the appetizer, Tiger Woods is sure to provide a sumptuous feast for his millions of fans when he plays his first strokeplay event in almost nine months at the WGC-CA Championship.

The tournament, which offers a total purse of $8.5 million, with the winner’s share being $1.4 million, also features Indian superstar Jeev Milkha Singh, currently ranked 36th in the world and hoping for a good show to push him even higher and a confidence boost ahead of next month’s Masters, the first Major of the season.

It will be Tiger’s second start in his comeback from reconstructive knee surgery. Even with the loss, Woods reported no problems or discomfort in the knee. He has a record 15 WGC victories overall in 28 starts.

Played at one of Tiger’s favourite courses, the par-72 Doral Golf Resort & Spa’s Blue Course, popularly known as the Blue Monster on the Tour because of the challenge it poses to the players. Tiger is a six-time CA Championship winner, and before Geoff Ogilvy’s triumph last year, he had won it on three successive occasions.

The CA Championship will be live and exclusive on Ten Sports, the most watched sports channel in the Sub-continent.

Defending champion and the new world No4, Ogilvy, world No2 Sergio García, Phil Mickelson and Colombian star Camilo Villegas are among the 77 elite golfers who have qualified for the second of the year’s three World Golf Championships events.

While all the attention may be focussed on Woods as he continues his comeback, Australian Ogilvy will be the man to beat in Florida. Ogilvy clinched his third WGC crown earlier this month at the Accenture Match Play and is eager to return to Doral in pursuit of a fourth.

Ogilvy said: “It’s exciting to defend a golf tournament, to go back to where you’ve played well.

“I played well the year before too, so the last couple of years I’ve had a great time at Doral. It’s one of the biggest tournaments in the world and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Also of interest will be the performance of Aussie Stuart Appleby, who is making his 31st WGC start. Appleby is the only player to appear in every event since the series started in 1999.

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ABOUT TEN SPORTS: Taj TV’s Ten Sports, the most watched sports channel in the sub-continent, is available in more than 55 million cable/satellite homes worldwide. The world’s biggest producer of cricket, the Channel broadcasts cricket from West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai throughout the Indian sub-continent and Asia, as well as to the United States and Canada (Cricket Plus), Continental Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Ten Sports also owns the exclusive rights in its sub-continent territories for the WWE, the UEFA Champions League, the US Open tennis sand Hockey World Cup.