Golf-Furyk to make PGA Tour return next week in Charlotte

April 29 (Reuters) - Jim Furyk will end an injury absence of nearly eight months when he returns to competition at next week's Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, the PGA Tour announced on Friday. The 45-year-old American, a 17-times winner on the U.S. circuit, will also tee it up the following week at the PGA Tour's flagship Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Furyk has been sidelined since he was forced to withdraw after just six holes at the BMW Championship last September due to a bone contusion in his left wrist. In a bid to regain full health, he also pulled out of the season-ending Tour Championship the following week, as well as the Presidents Cup team competition in South Korea in October. After Furyk's wrist problem did not respond to medical treatment, he decided to have surgery on it in early February. Having now spent more than seven months on the sidelines, his world ranking has slipped to 24th from a career-high of world number two. Furyk had not pulled out of a PGA Tour event in 20 years, a span of 477 straight events dating back to the 1995 Western Open, until his early withdrawal from the 2015 BMW Championship. (Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Larry Fine)