Tiger Woods has declared himself fully fit ahead of his defence of the EMC World Cup with David Duval in Japan. Woods suffered a back injury in the US Tour Championships in Houston two weeks ago and was obviously struggling during the event, won by Canada's Mike Weir in a play-off.
Woods is confident that he has recovered in time for the American team's attempt to repeat last year's thrilling win in Argentina. "My back has felt really good actually," Woods said after playing a practice round this morning. "I was a little worried about the flight overseas, an 18-hour flight from Los Angeles to China, but it's been great. It has been just a touch sore but it's just like having a bruise. My joints are moving perfectly fine, I have a full range of motion. It's just going to be a little sore for a little bit until it fully heals," said the world number one.
Woods and Duval are strong favourites to defend the title they won by three shots over local favourites Eduardo Romero and Angel Cabrera in Buenos Aires last year.
Duval believes that the Irish team of Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington are strong contenders to repeat their 1997 win, among several other teams which pose a threat. "I think the Japanese team will play very well, similar to the situation where Argentina played so great last year as well. The home crowd is a great incentive. I believe Ernie Els and Retief Goosen pair up for a very good team for South Africa and the Irish team is very strong," said the world number three.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
