Woods Paired With Mickelson and Scott at Us Open

Tiger Woods has been paired with Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott, respectively ranked No2 and No3 in the world, at this year's US Open.

Woods, who underwent surgery on his left knee in April, two days after finishing second at The Masters, has not played a competitive round since Augusta.

But the world No1, who last week provided an upbeat assessment of his chances of competing at Torrey Pines, managed a practice round yesterday and is expected to be in contention when the tournament starts next Thursday.

Officials have announced four groups consisting of the world's top 12 players and will later reveal the rest of the groupings for the tournament.

Ernie Els, Justin Rose and Geoff Ogilvy are to form another trio, as will Stewart Cink, Sergio Garcia and Vijay Singh. The other big-name grouping will consist of KJ Choi, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker.