Tiger Woods hopes to end year with a victory

Tiger Woods said Monday he’s hoping to cap “a long, frustrating year” with a victory at the golfer’s own charity tournament in Thousand Oaks in December — if he doesn’t win earlier.

“My game’s coming around,” he told reporters in advance of his Chevron World Challenge. “Everything’s headed in a positive direction now.”

The annual 18-player tournament, which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation and other charities, is scheduled Dec. 2-5 at Jack Nicklaus-designed Sherwood Country Club.

Woods has won the event four times but has missed the tournament the last two years. He was recovering from knee surgery in 2008, and last year he withdrew because the event came only days after his Thanksgiving night car accident in Florida that set in motion his sensational sex scandal.

In a tumultuous season for Woods that started late with the Masters in April, he has struggled to regain the form that enabled him to win 14 major tournaments. Woods also is in danger of losing the No. 1 spot in the world golf rankings, a position he has held for more than five consecutive years, to Englishman Lee Westwood in the coming weeks.

Woods, 34, hasn’t won this year and has only two top-five finishes in 12 PGA Tour events. But with the help of a new swing coach, Sean Foley, Woods said he’s turning things around.

“I’m still working toward it,” Woods said in a video teleconference from Orlando, Fla. “I don’t have it all dialed in yet. I have two more events prior to the Chevron event” in China and Australia. “Hopefully, I can get two more [wins] before I get to Chevron.”

Woods said he’s also making progress with his personal life in the aftermath of the scandal, which led to his divorce from Elin Nordegren this summer. They have two children.

“Certainly I’m a lot more at peace now,” Woods said. “Everyone’s getting used to the new living conditions. The kids are adjusting.

“I learned a lot about myself and I learned how things went wrong, why they went wrong, and to take a pretty deep and introspective look at myself, and there weren’t a lot of things I liked about it,” Woods said.

“I come from a much better place, much more grounded place now than I ever have before. I’d like to get back to a full playing schedule next year and be ready for the big events again.”

Other players in the Chevron tournament include this year’s U.S. Open winner, Graeme McDowell, and PGA Championship winner Martin Kaymer.

The others are defending tournament winner Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Paul Casey, Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter, Hunter Mahan, Zach Johnson, Anthony Kim, Bubba Watson, Sean O’Hair, Camilo Villegas and Stewart Cink.

The event’s $5-million purse ranges from $1.2 million for the winner to $140,000 for the last-place finisher.

james.peltz@latimes.com