Woods golf comeback confirmed for Bahamas

Jason Day will be in the field at the elite 18-man World Challenge tournament in the Bahamas next month when his friend Tiger Woods returns to competitive golf.

American golfer Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods has long battled knee and back injury problems. (AAP)

Australian stars Jason Day and Marc Leishman will witness Tiger Woods' latest comeback close up when they join him in the field for the World Challenge event in the Bahamas next month.

An "excited" Woods has announced he will return to tournament play for the first time in nine months in the elite 18-man field for the event he hosts, and has won on five occasions.

The 14-time major winner is coming back from his latest back surgery, which has kept him out of competitive action since he withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic at the start of February.

World No.7 Day and No.16 Leishman are included in a quality field that includes the world's top four players - Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Hideki Matsuyama.

Day and Spieth will be travelling from Australia where they'll be the star attractions at the Australian Open in Sydney the week before.

The World Challenge clashes with the Australian PGA Championship in Day's home state Queensland where Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia will be the leading attractions at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast.

Woods underwent a fourth back operation in three years in April and earlier this month the 41-year-old's agent Mark Steinberg said he had been cleared to resume full golf activity following a check-up with his surgeon.

"Albany is the perfect setting and it will be great to join this outstanding field," Woods said on his website.

"I would also like to thank the fans for their unwavering support during my injury."

The 41-year-old American has only played six competitive rounds in the past two years while trying to recover from multiple back surgeries.

Woods recently pleaded guilty in a Florida court to reckless driving and entered a program for first-time offenders to avoid a conviction on the charge of driving under the influence.

He was found asleep in May behind the wheel of his vehicle, which was parked alongside a road not far from his home on Jupiter Island.

Woods had five drugs in his system, when he was arrested, but no alcohol, according to a toxicology report.

Those drugs included generic forms of the painkillers Vicodin and Dilaudid; the mood drug Xanax; the sleeping pill Ambien, and a drug that contained THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.


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Source: AAP



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