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Tiger Woods came close to his first win in two years, but finished two shots back of winner Greg Chalmers and settled for third place at the Australian Open. Tiger looks ready for the Presidents Cup, which starts Thursday in Australia, and which both captains say will likely include some head-to-head action against Adam Scott and former caddie Steve Williams.

Tiger felt pretty good about his best finish since a playoff loss at last year’s 18-man Chevron World Challenge, and his best placing against a full field since his last win, the 2009 Australian Masters. “I felt great,” said Tiger. “It’s nice to finally be healthy again. … It was great to be out there. I had a chance. Unfortunately, I didn’t post the number I wanted to post.”

International Team captain Greg Norman said he’ll only send Adam Scott out to face Tiger if he thinks it’s the best matchup for his team. “If it happens, it happens, it’s not going to be premeditated,” said Norman. “I talked to Adam about it, asked him if it works out that way, do you have a problem, and he said, ‘No, not at all.’…He might end up playing with him every day, who knows. I’d expect the two of them to meet up face to face from Thursday onward.”

US Team captain Fred Couples is also expecting a Tiger-Scott-Williams showdown, but tried to downplay its significance. “I don’t think it would be some big, pressure-packed match,” said Couples. “They are two of the top players in the world and hopefully they’ll play. … If it’s not singles it will certainly be in an alternate-shot or best-ball pairing. You sort of can’t miss it.”

Also, Couples won’t have to replace any of his players as Steve Stricker and Hunter Mahan have declared themselves healthy enough to compete. Stricker hasn’t played since the Tour Championship in September because of a neck injury, but practiced on Monday. Mahan withdrew from the Australian Open last week because of pain behind his right shoulder, but bowing out of the tournament was mainly precautionary and he too was out practicing on Monday.