Fresh start for Woods after split

FEDEX CUP PLAY-OFFS
Tournament: The Barclays Venue: Ridgewood Country Club; New Jersey, US Dates: Thursday 26 August - Sunday 29 August Coverage: Updates on BBC Radio 5 live; reports on BBC Sport website & mobiles; live on Sky Sports 3 & 4

Woods will attempt to defend the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup after winning it last year

Struggling world number one Tiger Woods will get his defence of the prestigious FedEx Cup under way in the first tournament since his recent divorce.

He will hope to impress the United States Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin at The Barclays, the first of four tournaments that make up the $10m Cup.

Woods, 34, recently missed out on automatic Ryder Cup qualification after a series of career-worst performances.

Jim Furyk has been barred from The Barclay for missing the Pro-Am event.

The world number six overslept and missed his early morning tee-off time in Wednesday's curtain-raising practice round for the lucrative PGA Tour series, which adheres to play-off system.

Though he will now have to wait and see how much his blunder affects him, Furyk has - unlike Woods - guaranteed his Ryder Cup spot against Europe at Celtic Manor in Wales in early October.

Under-pressure Woods must rely on being one of four wildcards in Pavin's final selection on 7 September.

606: DEBATE I'd never bet on Harrington but do feel a win for him is on the cards in the coming weeks... Fairway_Metal

But, since his return to competitive golf four months ago following damaging revelations about his private life, he has not come close to winning in nine tournaments so far - nor playing particularly well.

At last month's Bridgestone Invitational, which he had won seven times previously, Woods finished second last in a tie for 78th after shooting 18 over par and ending up fully 30 shots behind eventual winner Hunter Mahan.

A raft of top European players are also bidding to impress in New Jersey as they look to secure a wildcard Ryder Cup spot.

Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Justin Rose - all influential in previous European Ryder Cup teams - have elected to miss the Johnnie Walker Championship in Scotland to play.

Ireland's triple major winner Harrington, England's world number nine Casey, and his 10th and 22nd-ranked compatriots Donald and Rose are all outside the top nine automatic qualifying places.

With only three wildcard spaces available, they will hope to catch the eye of European captain Colin Montgomerie ahead of his final selection on Sunday.

Heath Slocum defends The Barclays title in New Jersey, which the top 125 players from the regular PGA Tour season are eligible to take part in.

The players will be looking to make it into the top 100 in order to progress to the second play-off event next week - the Deutsche Bank Championship.

"There's a lot of different guys that's won this year, and there's only a few multiple winners," said American player Dustin Johnson.

"And so there's a lot of guys that have played solid all year."

European stars also playing include Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter, who are certain to qualify automatically for the European Ryder Cup team.

The United States won the last Ryder Cup in 2008 after Europe had emerged victorious from the previous three showdowns.

This year's edition takes place at Celtic Manor in Wales between 1-3 October.

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