Woods plays in the Chevron World Challenge golf tournament this week

World number two golfer Tiger Woods has engaged his fans on social networking site Twitter for the first time.

Woods, 34, responded to a host of questions as he posted 23 messages in the space of an hour on Tuesday, two weeks after first trying out Twitter.

Woods, who is preparing to host this week's Chevron World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club in California, created a Twitter page in June but did not post his first message until five months later.

Wasn't gonna follow @TigerWoods but now he's tweeting like crazy so I think he'll be well worth a follow!! Rory McIlroy

"What's up everyone? Finally decided to try out Twitter," said Woods on 17 November, though he only posted five more messages before a burst of comments on Tuesday.

He started by posting a picture of himself with the comment: "Getting a lesson in @ replies here it goes...", before responding to 21 messages and questions from his followers, signing off later by saying he had to go to a press conference.

Here are a few of Woods's tweets:

Q: Hey -- What's the best pre-round meal and "in the bag" snacks/food? Thnx.
A: During round I eat peanut & banana sandwich & almonds

Q: Yo tiger, what are your 2011 goals on the PGA tour?
A: As Al Davis said "Just win baby"

Q: I'm a retired Special Ops Guy like your dad. I got divorced and it was tough as hell. I have faith in you!
A: Thanks brother

Q: What's your favourite course and why?
A: St. Andrews

Q: If you could play any other sport, what would it be?
A: Basketball

Q: What part of your game are looking forward to in 2011?
A: EVERYTHING

Woods' sudden burst of tweets has increased his number of followers, with more than 286,000 people now tracking the former world number one on Twitter.

The American has endured a difficult 2010, not only being knocked off the top spot but going through a divorce and losing some of his sponsorship deals as well as struggling on the golf course.

England's Lee Westwood, who displaced Woods at the top of the rankings in November, joined Twitter last week and has posted messages frequently ever since.

He tweeted about getting in touch with Woods to fellow golfer Ian Poulter, but said Woods had ignored him. "Just tweeted Tiger and he's blanked me! Have a word!" said Westwood.

A year ago, Westwood revealed he had been posting messages on BBC Sport's 606 website, allowing his fans to choose the colour of his shirts and select words for him to use in post-round interviews.

Poulter is a prolific tweeter with more than one million followers and he is delighted Woods and Westwood have joined him in opening up accounts.

"It's all been good fun. Lee has been a new addition to Twitter over the last couple of weeks, along with Tiger, and certainly Lee has taken to it with fine form," said Poulter.

"He has given me plenty of abuse and plenty of banter. It's great. You can have a bit of fun with it and it makes it very enjoyable."

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy also tweets regularly and he added: "Wasn't gonna follow @TigerWoods [Tiger's Twitter name] but now he's tweeting like crazy so I think he'll be well worth a follow!!"

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