Golf Australia Chief Executive Officer Stephen Pitt has confirmed an audacious bid to lure Tiger Woods to Australia for the Open next year. Woods has not played Down Under since the 1998 Presidents Cup in Melbourne and Pitt has announced that negotiations to bring the World No.1 back are in the early stages. “We have had some discussions with his management,” he said. “Their advice to us was that one thing to be careful of is speculating about Tiger playing in your event but the Australian Open, like every event, would like to have Tiger in its field, absolutely.” Pitt was confident that attracting Woods to the Australia Open would be a terrific investment for a tournament that has struggled to attract big names in recent times “We think he would be a great fit for the Australian Open,” he said. “I think it would be a natural place for him to play in Australia and given the past champions that we&aposve had with Gary Player winning seven and Jack Nicklaus winning six and Arnold Palmer winning one, Tiger Woods would sit very comfortably alongside those names.” Despite the obvious excitement associated with the Woods name, Pitt was quick to point out that the deal is a long way from being done. “For (Woods) at the moment I don&apost think he&aposs making decisions right now because of his injury and he&aposs putting things on hold till he finds out exactly where he&aposs at.” “Of course, (Woods playing) would raise interest in the event and the young kids would love to see someone like Tiger or even a couple of the other top ten players that we haven t seen out here recently or ever.”