Thursday August 30, 2001 4:02 PM

TORONTO (Reuters) -- World No. 1 Tiger Woods has confirmed he plans to defend his Canadian Open title in Montreal next week, the Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA) said on Thursday.

An RCGA spokesperson told Reuters that the official announcement on Woods' participation in the tournament, which is to be held from Sept. 3-9 at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, would be made later on Thursday.

The 156 players competing in the 92nd Canadian Open, the third-oldest national golf championship in the world, will be vying for a total purse of $3.8 million, the richest in the tournament's history.

Other top players in the field include Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh, Jesper Parnevik, Hal Sutton and Mike Weir.

Woods provided a dramatic finish to last year's Canadian Open at Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ontario when he fired a 6-iron from a bunker 216 yards over water to set up a birdie on the final hole and win by one stroke.

In 1997, when the championship was last played at Royal Montreal, Woods missed the halfway cut.