• World Rankings

Woods makes shock Sydney return

Tiger Woods returns to golf this week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Woods paired with Clarke for return to action
  
• News: Green's late mistake hands Dyson victory
  
• Profile: Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods will play in Sydney for the first time in 15 years after confirming he will take part in November's Australian Open tournament.

Woods' last tournament win came at the Australian Masters in Melbourne during 2009, a triumph that arrived days before revelations about his marital infidelity turned his life on its head.

He returns to action this week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, having played just nine competitive holes since picking up leg injuries at April's Masters tournament, in which he finished fourth.

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that there will be no European Tour event in Bahrain early next year due to political unrest in the Middle East state. The inaugural Volvo Golf Champions was staged in Bahrain during January, with Paul Casey triumphing ahead of a field that included Darren Clarke, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter, and Padraig Harrington.

The event has been postponed, but organisers intend to return to Bahrain in the future. "With work still ongoing to resolve issues in Bahrain and the need to confirm the venue by the end of July 2011, the difficult decision to postpone the event for 2012 was taken," read a statement.

"Volvo and IMG have now decided that the Volvo Golf Champions will rotate between a very few select world class venues, including The Royal Golf Club, Bahrain, with the other venues to be announced in the future, thus stating their intention to return to Bahrain in the future."

In the world rankings, Irish Open winner Simon Dyson, who triumphed after Richard Green three-putted the 72nd hole, has climbed to No. 48.

World Rankings: 1. Luke Donald (ENG), 2. Lee Westwood (ENG), 3. Martin Kaymer (GER), 4. Steve Stricker (USA), 5. Rory McIlroy (NIR), 6. Phil Mickelson (USA), 7. Dustin Johnson (USA), 8. Jason Day (AUS), 9. Nick Watney (USA), 10. Charl Schwartzel (RSA), 11. Matt Kuchar (USA), 12. Graeme McDowell (NIR), 13. KJ Choi (KOR), 14. Bubba Watson (USA), 15. Paul Casey (ENG), 16. Ian Poulter (ENG), 17. Adam Scott (AUS), 18. Robert Karlsson (SWE), 19. Hunter Mahan (USA), 20. Retief Goosen (RSA).

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.