If he pulls it off and few would bet against him the 23-year-old will also notch up another personal milestone: successfully defending a title for the first time in his four-year pro career. Woods beat South African Ernie Els in a play-off to claim last year's Classic in Thailand after coming from eight strokes behind on the final day.

Woods' astonishing run of form this season has seen him claim nine titles, eight of them in his last 11 starts, pocketing six million dollars in the process. But despite a gruelling 20-hour flight from Spain to get here, there was no sign that his ferocious appetite for victory is dimming. ``I couldn't sleep last night but I am feeling fine,'' Woods said at a packed press conference here. adding, ``I'm anxious to get going. I walked the front nine holes yesterday, and the course looks in great shape.''

This week's tournament is being tri-sanctioned for the first time between the PGA European Tour, the PGA Tour of Australasia and the Asian PGA Tour. It's the first time that the Johnnie Walker Classic, now in its ninth year, has been played in Taiwan.

Among those aiming to prevent Woods holding on to his title will be 1997 champion Els, England's Nick Faldo, the winner in 1990 and 1993, Fiji's Vijay Singh, and American Jim Furyk.

FOUR INDIANS IN THE FRAY
TAIPEI: Four Indians, Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa, Arjun Atwal and Amandeep Johl start their campaign in the 132-player field of the 1.3 million dollar Johnnie Walker Classic in Taiwan tomorrow.

Jeev, 50th on the final 1999 European tour rankings, has been invited by the sponsors. The other three Indians qualified on the basis of their ranking on the Davidoff Asian PGA Tour.

This is the first time that more than two Indian have qualified for this prestigious event. In 1998, Atwal and Jeev qualified when Atwal tied with Tiger Woods entering the final round and was paired with him as Woods went on to erase the 8-stroke deficit for a historic win as Atwal finished 20th.

The Indian quartet has won two of the last three events on the Asian PGA tour with Jeev winning the Lexus Invitational in Bangkok the week and then Randhawa successfully defended his Hero Honda Masters title in Delhi. Last week Atwal finished 3rd in the Sabah Masters in Malaysia as Johl finished 14th. Jeev played the one million dollars Acom Interntional event in Japan last week and finished 20th and he is expected to make a strong showing here.

(UNI)