Westwood rejoins tour for first time since 2008

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. » Lee Westwood has decided to join the PGA Tour again.

It will be the first time the English star has taken up PGA Tour membership since the 2008 season. The move requires Westwood to compete in 15 tournaments, which includes the four majors and World Golf Championships.

Westwood says he will return to The Players Championship, which he skipped this year because his schedule already was full. He also said he was intrigued watching the FedEx Cup playoffs on television and would like to take part in them.

Westwood started the year at No. 1 in the world and has since slipped to No. 3. He plans to start his American schedule next year at the Match Play Championship in Arizona, which counts toward the PGA and European tours.

Senior excels with son on bag

COOLUM, Australia » Peter Senior earned $1.4 million on the Champions Tour in the United States this year — seventh on the money list — and did it mostly with his 17-year-old son, Mitchell, as his caddie.

Senior, the defending champion at the Australian PGA which begins Thursday, said he offered Mitchell the job thinking it would prevent the youngster getting bored on family trips to a few Australian PGA tournaments that Senior played in Melbourne earlier this year.

Asked if his son got the customary 10 percent of his earnings, Senior said: “Yes, the normal caddie pay,” which would work out to be about $140,000.

Scott, Ivanovic making it work

Adam Scott and Serbian tennis star Ana Ivanovic continue to maintain a relationship despite widely scattered travel on their respective tours. With the WTA tennis tour quiet, Ivanovic has joined Scott for the past several weeks.

At the Presidents Cup in Melbourne, Ivanovic dressed in the “wives and partners” gear each day and walked with K.J. Choi’s wife during the competition.

She’s accompanying Scott this week at the Australian PGA at the Coolum resort north of Brisbane.