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DEFENDING CHAMPION TIGER WOODS

Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 2006

Where: The Grove; Hertfordshire, England; Par: 36-36--72; Yardage: 7,120

Briefly:

• In 2006, the American Express Championship comes to The Grove just outside London. The Grove is a 7,152 yard, par-72 championship golf course, designed by American architect Kyle Philips.

• Tiger Woods has the opportunity to win his sixth consecutive PGA TOUR event -- having won his previous five starts (including two majors) at the British Open, Buick Open, PGA Championship, World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and Deutsche Bank Championship. In his last start, Woods lost to eventual runner-up Shaun Micheel in the first round of the HSBC World Match Play Championship.

• Woods has won 11 of 21 World Golf Championships starts since the series’ inception in 1999, including four American Express Championship titles. Those American Express titles came on four different courses in Spain, Ireland, Georgia and California.

• The 2004 American Express Championship winner, Ernie Els, returns to the event after a one-year hiatus last year due to his knee injury and subsequent surgery last summer. Els is searching for his first TOUR win in two years – his last victory being the American Express Championship that ended on Oct. 3, 2004. Els won by one stroke over Thomas Bjorn at Mount Juliet Conrad in Kilkenny, Ireland. Bjorn was one five Europeans to finish among the top-10 that week – David Howell (3), Darren Clarke (tied for fourth), Sergio Garcia (tied for fourth) and Padraig Harrington (tied for sixth).