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Woods running out of time for Open

Tiger Woods is still unsure whether he will be fit to play at the Open © Getty Images

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• Profile: Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods still does not know whether he will be able to compete at this year's Open Championship, which gets underway next Thursday.

Last week the 14-time major champion retained hope of being able to tee it up at Royal St George's, as he continues to recover from a sprained knee and strained Achilles tendon in his left leg. But, with only ten days until the third major of the year gets underway, the 35-year-old is still unsure whether he will be fit enough to compete.

"I don't know and that's the hard part," Woods said. "That's what is killing because I don't have a timetable. I'm just taking it one day at a time and that's kind of hard.

"As of right now I've got to go day by day in my training sessions. We push it each day to see how it is, and the next day if I recover right we push it a bit harder.

"The deal is to get it strong enough so I don't have to worry about [aggravating it again], I can just go play."

Woods laughed off suggestions his left knee might never return to full strength, after it was put to him that it had been operated on so many times in recent years it was "basically Joan Rivers at this stage".

"That's one way of looking it!" he laughed. "But it's about getting the strength and explosiveness back into it and making sure everything is fine in the sequence."

Tiger Woods remains 17th in the latest world golf rankings, while Martin Kaymer has moved back ahead of US Open champion Rory McIlroy to reclaim third spot after a solid finish in the Open de France.

Elsewhere, AT&T National champion Nick Watney moves into the top ten for the first time in his career, as runner-up KJ Choi jumps two places to No. 14.

The week's other notable riser is Australian Jason Day, who moved two places to seventh at the expense of Matt Kuchar and Graeme McDowell.

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

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