Jason Dufner healthy and playing again, Tiger Woods returns to the driving range

Tiger Woods is back on the range, Rory McIlroy’s off the course and in court, but Jason Dufner is on the tee in Australia.

Dufner, decidedly slimmer, rested, and ready, will turn up Down Under this week at the Perth International after a neck injury put him out of action for nearly three months.

“I feel much better physically. I feel a little bit rested mentally,” Dufner said ahead of Thursday’s start to his first competitive outing since bulging discs in his neck forced him to withdraw from his PGA title defense in August. “I’m excited to get back to playing some competitive golf over the next month or so.”

While on hiatus, Amanda’s husband did his best “Project Runway” and “Top Chef” impersonations, but what the 2013 PGA champion, whose health required him to miss last month’s Ryder Cup, did not do was play, watch, or otherwise engage in any golf-related activities.

“I totally detached myself from golf during that point. I wasn’t too interested in golf or what was going on in the golfing world during that time period. I didn’t watch one minute of the Ryder Cup,” said Dufner. “It was disappointing that I was injured, but it wasn’t miserable for me.”

Dufner will hit the ground running — or at least ambling as only the laid-back Duf can — by starting three straight tournaments.

“I haven’t played competitive golf in 11 weeks, I don’t have that many expectations,” said Dufner, who draws Charl Schwartzel as one of his playing partners to open the co-sanctioned Australasian/European Tour event. “I feel like if I can play 18 holes without any pain, that’ll be a good thing. Get rolling in the right direction again.”

Dufner makes it back to the links ahead of Woods, whose surgically repaired back has had him off and on the DL since March. While the former No. 1 has begun hitting balls in anticipation of playing in his Hero World Challenge in December, the currently top-ranked golfer in the world will miss two contests in China to bone up for an upcoming trial with his former management company.

McIlroy, whose next on-course appearance is expected to be at the DP World Tour in Dubai in late November, will spend time cramming for his February court appearance rather than teeing it up at the October 30-November 2 BMW Masters and WGC-HSBC Champions, which starts a week later.