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Tiger can rediscover his golden touch - Donald

Tiger Woods' winless run is approaching two years © PA Photos

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Luke Donald is backing Tiger Woods to rediscover his winning touch, insisting he will never write off the 14-time major champion.

While Donald, the world No. 1, heads into this week's BMW Championship lying fourth in the FedEx Cup standings, Woods finds himself counting the cost of failing to qualify for the play-off event.

Injury woes and problems away from the course have seen him slump to No. 46 in the rankings, with his last victory coming in November 2009. Despite Woods' current plight, Donald is adamant the 35-year-old can return to the winners circle and show everyone the "tremendous amount of talent" that made him golf's greatest force.

"I don't recall ever saying Tiger's era is over," Donald said. "I've certainly said in the past I think it's tough to come back from physical injuries. I've had some, and obviously being away from the game for so long, it's certainly not going to be easy for him to get back to where he was.

"I wouldn't doubt that Tiger will come back and win again. Whether he'll win as prolifically as he did a few years ago, I'm not sure. Whether the Tiger era is over, I don't know.

"Obviously there's a lot of great young players coming up and showing a lot of talent, but certainly I would never be naive enough to write Tiger off. He has a tremendous amount of talent, and I'm sure when he starts playing a little bit more that that will start showing again."

Despite his lack of form, Woods has been guaranteed a place in November's Presidents Cup, where he will join Steve Stricker on the United States' team. "I'm glad that he's going to be picked," said Stricker. "I would imagine that we'll pair up again over there in Australia.

"He hasn't played that much this year, but I think he deserves to be on the team based on what he has meant to the game over the years. He's been on a number of these teams. I don't think anybody is surprised that he's on the team. I'm not surprised that he's on the team.

"And I think this could serve him well, too. I think this will give him some motivation for the rest of this year to try to get his game going. He's got something to look forward to and to practice for, to get ready for. I'm sure he'll be ready."

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