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Sydney. Tiger Woods will be challenged by one of the strongest fields assembled for this week’s Australian Open as he attempts to break a two-year tournament drought at the Lakes Golf Club in Sydney.

The former world No. 1, who has been marooned on 14 major titles since his last success at the 2008 US Open, has slipped out of the top 50 in the world rankings for the first time in 15 years to a current 58.

His last tournament victory came at the 2009 Australian Masters, but he faces a difficult test to break through against four of the world’s top 10, with another four from the top 20 along with six major winners.

American Dustin Johnson is the tournament’s top-ranked player at No. 5 in the world ahead of Australian rising star Jason Day (7), compatriot Adam Scott (8) and American Matt Kuchar (9).

Woods, who lost his golfing aura following lurid revelations about his private life, has been distracted in the tournament lead-up by a slur from his former caddie Steve Williams that triggered widespread condemnation.

Williams, who was Woods’s caddie for 13 of his 14 Grand Slam victories before being fired earlier this year, referred to Woods as a “black a------” during a private awards dinner on Friday night in Shanghai.

Woods said Williams apologized when they met at the course on Tuesday, and while the remarks were hurtful, he denied his ex-caddie was a racist.

“Certainly, Stevie is not a racist, there’s no doubt about that,” Woods said. “I think it was a comment that shouldn’t have been made and certainly one that he shouldn’t have meant.”

Woods is ambivalent about his drop in the rankings but says it is nothing new.

“I’ve been here before, I changed my game in ’97. I just won the Masters by 12 and decided to change my game and it took me two years,” he said.

“Then I didn’t get it until ’99 and I think I had a pretty good run after that. So hopefully this will be very similar.

“I think I need tournament time. I haven’t played a lot of tournaments this year.”

It is Woods’s first Australian Open since 1996 where he opened with a 79 and rallied to tie for fifth in only his ninth tournament as a professional.

Day, a runner-up at this year’s Masters and US Open and making his first appearance in Australia in four years, said he no longer looked at Woods as the man to beat.

“There’s a bunch of good young players coming up and the competition is only getting tougher,” said Day, nominating Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer as his main rivals for the top ranking.

“Tiger’s Tiger. He can still hit those shots that not many people can,” he added.

Greg Norman, who is also playing this week, has nominated 23-year-old Day to emulate him and become Australia’s second-ever world No. 1.

Johnson is in Australia for the first time but doesn’t think he will be at a disadvantage to local contenders. “We’re going to have a great field this week,” Johnson said. “It’s been a while since I played an event. I’ve come out and been working hard so we’ll see how things go.”

Australian Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open winner, is the defending champion, winning at the Lakes last year by four shots.

Agence France-Presse