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Tiger aiming to be sharp for Ryder Cup

Tiger Woods feels his game is heading in the right direction © Getty Images

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Tiger Woods has attempted to take the positives from his failure to qualify for the Tour Championship, with the world No. 1 claiming it gives him an extra week to work away from the spotlight ahead of the Ryder Cup.

A 15th-place finish at the BMW Championship saw Woods miss out on a spot at the final FedEx Cup event of the season. The result enabled Woods to hang on to his place as the world's top golfer, with Phil Mickelson's eighth-place finish not good enough to overhaul his great rival.

Woods feels he has paid the price for his poor form earlier in the season and will retreat to his Florida home with coach Sean Foley to sharpen his game ahead of the Ryder Cup.

"I was looking forward to only getting one week break, but now I've got two, and it'll be good because now I can practice at home with Sean in peace and away from everybody and put some work in and also work on my short game and my putting, things I have not been able to do out here," Woods said. "It'll be nice to work on all these little things and concentrate on my game a little bit more and sharpen up; be ready come Friday.

"I didn't qualify, and since I'm at home it also gives me two weeks to practice and prepare. I didn't play well in the beginning of the year and I didn't play well in the middle of the year, and now I'm starting to play well now. I'm headed in the right direction, which is good, a lot of good signs, and I just need to keep working and stay the course."

Looking ahead to the Ryder Cup, Woods said: "I've got two weeks off to work on my game and get ready and get over there, and the team should be ready."

Paul Casey went agonisingly close to victory on Sunday, but the consolation was a rise in the rankings to seven in the world, while the man who pipped him to the BMW Championship title, Dustin Johnson, has climbed to 12 from 24.

World Rankings: 1. Tiger Woods (USA), 2. Phil Mickelson (USA), 3. Lee Westwood (ENG), 4. Steve Stricker (USA), 5. Martin Kaymer (GER), 6. Jim Furyk (USA), 7. Paul Casey (ENG), 8. Rory McIlroy (NI), 9. Luke Donald (ENG), 10. Matt Kuchar (USA), 11. Ernie Els (SA), 12. Dustin Johnson (USA), 13. Ian Poulter (ENG), 14. Graeme McDowell (NI), 15. Hunter Mahan (USA), 16. Edoardo Molinari (ITA), 17. Retief Goosen (SA), 18. Zach Johnson (USA), 19. Anthony Kim (USA), 20. Louis Oosthuizen (SA)

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