Tiger Woods is ready to return to competitive golf, saying his back feels "great." After being hampered by back injuries for more than a year-and-a-half, Woods said he is finally healthy enough to practice consistently.
Woods hasn't golfed since August, but the time off apparently has helped - he says his back feels excellent.
"I feel great," he said on SiriusXM, according to ESPN. "I feel really, really good. It's great to be back out here competing again. I've missed it quite a bit."
Woods underwent back surgery in March, but back issues continued to bother him throughout the season. He ultimately announced in August he would take time off to rehabilitate his injury. Now, with the Hero's World Challenge next week, Woods believes he's ready to compete again because of the time off.
"I'm excited that I have this much time off to obviously heal and get stronger and get my game in order for next year," he said. "I went through a period there for the last year, year-and-a-half, where I didn't really practice much. ... I can finally log in the time, log in the minutes and really delve into a good practice session and really get a lot out of it. And that's something I hadn't been able to do in quite some time."
Woods competed in only eight tournaments in 2014. At 39 years old, Woods is chasing two records before age finally catches up to him: Sam Snead's record of 82 PGA Tour wins and Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 major championship wins. Woods currently has 79 PGA Tour titles and 14 majors under his belt.
