Tiger Woods will return to competition at next week's Memorial Tournament after a layoff due to a neck injury, the Golf Channel reported Monday. The world No. 1 withdrew from the final round of the Players Championship on May 9 due to the injury. Woods will return to action at the Muirfield Village golf course where he has captured four titles and is the defending champion of the tournament, hosted by Jack Nicklaus, the report said. Woods plans to play in next month's US Open at Pebble Beach where he will pursue his 15th major. Petrovic, Van Pelt earn British Open spots In Texas, Bo van Pelt was among eight PGA Tour players who qualified Monday for the British Open, the major he missed last year while winning his only PGA Tour title. Tim Petrovic had an 11-under 129 to lead the eight qualifiers at Gleneagles Country Club. He was one shot ahead of Van Pelt, who won the US Bank Championship in Milwaukee last year, held the same week as the British Open. The British Open will be played July 15-18 at St. Andrews. Others who qualified were D.A. Points, Martin Laird of Scotland, 50-year-old Tom Pernice Jr., Glen Day, George McNeill and Cameron Percy of Australia, who earned the last spot in a three-way playoff with Bubba Watson and Charley Hoffman. Laird made his British Open debut last year at Turnberry, missing the cut. He departed Scotland to attend college in the US and had not left America since. His parents live about 15 minutes from St. Andrews. “The Open at St. Andrews, it doesn't get any better than that,” an emotional Laird said. “I had this qualifier circled on my calendar for a long time. I will be able to stay with my parents at home. There is nothing like it.” Fifteen join US Open field Thirteen foreign golfers were among 15 additional players to earn exemptions into the US Open golf championship next month at Pebble Beach, the US Golf Association said Monday. Australians Robert Allenby and Adam Scott, South Korean K.J. Choi and Camilo Villegas of Colombia were among the players in the top 50 in world rankings who had not yet qualified for the June 17-20 championship. Americans Anthony Kim and Ben Crane were also added to the field through their position in world rankings. The additions brought the number of exempt players to 78.
