I’m not dead. I’m ready to go: Tiger Woods

When Tiger Woods returns to action at the Hero World Challenge this week he will be playing in a prototype of his latest signature golf shoe, the Nike TW ’17. When youve achieved as much as he has. its a shock to the system not to play as good as you have been. And there were the usual puffed-chest, sound-bite-quality reminders of his legendary competitiveness. “I’m going to do what I always do”, said Woods when asked what the expectations are for a tournament that he is hosting. There’s the black one I won with the trillium insert.

He tees off competitively since August 2015 this week at the Albany Championship Golf Course, and the first sign that he’s ready to compete is the apprehension.

Woods is a five-time victor of the Hero World Challenge, although he hasn’t accomplished the feat since 2011.

“I just couldn’t get out of bed”, Woods said. Its hard to believe its been that long.

Woods hasn’t had a win since the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational and hasn’t competed in 470 days, but will tee off Friday morning in his own event in the Bahamas. “I would like to be a little bit heavier now”.

“I would be honored to be selected as a Ryder Cup captain, but it’s not going to be for a while”, Woods said. I miss being out here with these guys. “It’s a different game”. “And I want to see the start”.

While that question is yet to be answered, it certainly seems like other pros enjoy having him back on the course.

“And has got to re-evaluate that and find out what’s going to happen to him and how can he mentally get himself back into the idea of playing golf again”. Yeah. But can I?

It’s a much different concern, and feeling, than 12 months ago. He has shown patience with his recovery and we should show patience with his game. I get it all the time. You asked me then, ‘Could I play?’ No. At times he needed help to get out of bed due to his near crippling back, was in pain most of the time either standing or sitting, and could barely swing a golf club. It’s just two different worlds.

“I don’t think anything is safe”.

The Florida resident made an abortive comeback attempt last month but bailed out, stating his game felt “vulnerable”. “It doesn’t go away”, Els said.

“It was a smart decision in the end to pull out of the tournaments”, he added. I won the Masters in ’97 with it. and this (the Scotty Cameron). “After 15 months of not competing. previous year at this time I gave you a different answer because that was the reality of it”. What’s a couple more months?

“On top of that, it also gave me a few more months to get stronger and get my practice schedule up”. I mean people were even talking about him getting one of the USA’s wild card picks and I thought “oh my God, give the guy a chance”.

Yates has managed just one top-three finish in a ranking event since the beginning of 2011 and his biggest career win came in 2004, at the SK Telecom Open in South Korea.

The 40-year-old admitted going for victory would be a tall order, but he is simply looking forward to playing again.

Brian Wacker of Golfdigest was allowed to follow Woods” round and he reported that the American was able to outdrive Rose “more than once’. It hasn’t been easy.