Boston:
Tiger Woods will be searching for an answer with his putter while Vijay Singh tries to defend his title against a strong field at the Deutsche Bank Championship which kicks off on Friday.
Woods, who is in the running for player-of-the-year honours, has five wins this year but no major championships.
He was beaten last month at the US PGA by unheralded Yang Yong-eun after losing a major for the first time with a 54-hole lead.
His failure to sink a seven-foot birdie putt on the final hole at Liberty National on Sunday raised a few more eyebrows. Woods said he is not overly concerned about the state of his putting.
"I've worked on it just a little bit," he said. This week's event features a 100-player field and runs Friday to Monday to give it an American Labor Day finish.
Asked if he has ever been pleased with finishing second Woods said: "No. There are sometimes when you are somewhat pleased, but you got to that position because you were so far out of it, but ultimately you didn't win the tournament. Can you be completely pleased with second place, no."
Woods missed last year's Boston event because he was recovering from major knee surgery. He took care of himself during the rehab and said the knee is holding up well under the stain of competition.
"For me it was about being out here and playing under the gun, on the back nine on Sunday, and see how it feels," Woods said. "The thing is about my sport is I can continue to get better as the year goes on."
Last year, Singh trailed third-round leader Mike Weir of Canada by three strokes and shot an eight-under 63 to win his second-straight playoff event.
The week before, the Fijian-Indian won The Barclays and those two wins were enough for Singh to earn the FedEx Cup's 10 million dollar prize.
"The golf swing is good," Singh said. "If you watch me on the range, I can't miss a shot. I just have to take it on the golf course.
"I think this week I'm ready to play, and I won't be surprised if I'm leading after two, three days. The important thing is to just go out there and feel confident and play the game I know."
Singh comes into this event winless in 2009. The last time he failed to win a tournament in one season was 2001.
"I think if somebody shoots 22-under this year they're going to win," he said. "Hopefully it's me. The golf course is a lot softer this year than it was last year."
Woods was one of the four top names that Heath Slocum fended off to win last week's The Barclays. Slocum rolled in a 21-footer for par on 18 to seal the victory.
Woods, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington and Steve Stricker finished one stroke back.
South Africa's Els says he is feeling more upbeat and happy about his game than he has in a long time. "It's been a while. I think I hit my low point at the US Open," Els said. "I haven't felt very positive about my game for a long time, and I would say breaking it up and going to Europe and getting ready for the British Open helped me a little bit, gave me new motivation.
"I actually had a good British Open, but I was very disappointed after that event even. I felt like I let a very good chance slip away there with my putting performance there that week. But I didn't get too low after that, and I kept going, and obviously the PGA was pretty good. With a closing 66 last week he could be peaking at the right time.
Woods, who is in the running for player-of-the-year honours, has five wins this year but no major championships.
He was beaten last month at the US PGA by unheralded Yang Yong-eun after losing a major for the first time with a 54-hole lead.
His failure to sink a seven-foot birdie putt on the final hole at Liberty National on Sunday raised a few more eyebrows. Woods said he is not overly concerned about the state of his putting.
"I've worked on it just a little bit," he said. This week's event features a 100-player field and runs Friday to Monday to give it an American Labor Day finish.
Asked if he has ever been pleased with finishing second Woods said: "No. There are sometimes when you are somewhat pleased, but you got to that position because you were so far out of it, but ultimately you didn't win the tournament. Can you be completely pleased with second place, no."
Woods missed last year's Boston event because he was recovering from major knee surgery. He took care of himself during the rehab and said the knee is holding up well under the stain of competition.
"For me it was about being out here and playing under the gun, on the back nine on Sunday, and see how it feels," Woods said. "The thing is about my sport is I can continue to get better as the year goes on."
Last year, Singh trailed third-round leader Mike Weir of Canada by three strokes and shot an eight-under 63 to win his second-straight playoff event.
The week before, the Fijian-Indian won The Barclays and those two wins were enough for Singh to earn the FedEx Cup's 10 million dollar prize.
"The golf swing is good," Singh said. "If you watch me on the range, I can't miss a shot. I just have to take it on the golf course.
"I think this week I'm ready to play, and I won't be surprised if I'm leading after two, three days. The important thing is to just go out there and feel confident and play the game I know."
Singh comes into this event winless in 2009. The last time he failed to win a tournament in one season was 2001.
"I think if somebody shoots 22-under this year they're going to win," he said. "Hopefully it's me. The golf course is a lot softer this year than it was last year."
Woods was one of the four top names that Heath Slocum fended off to win last week's The Barclays. Slocum rolled in a 21-footer for par on 18 to seal the victory.
Woods, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington and Steve Stricker finished one stroke back.
South Africa's Els says he is feeling more upbeat and happy about his game than he has in a long time. "It's been a while. I think I hit my low point at the US Open," Els said. "I haven't felt very positive about my game for a long time, and I would say breaking it up and going to Europe and getting ready for the British Open helped me a little bit, gave me new motivation.
"I actually had a good British Open, but I was very disappointed after that event even. I felt like I let a very good chance slip away there with my putting performance there that week. But I didn't get too low after that, and I kept going, and obviously the PGA was pretty good. With a closing 66 last week he could be peaking at the right time.
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