Woods feeling good after PGA return

Updated March 23, 2012 10:33:31

Tiger Woods put himself among the leaders at the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a 3-under par 69 in the opening round of his first USPGA tournament since an injury scare.

The 14-time major winner, chasing the all-time record of 18 major wins by Jack Nicklaus, pulled out of the World Golf Championships event at Doral two weeks ago in the final round with a tightness in his left Achilles tendon.

After a week of treatment with what was diagnosed as a strain, Woods played the two-day Tavistock Cup exhibition, a practice round on Wednesday and his first tournament round on Thursday at Bay Hill with no injury problems.

That's a good sign for Woods in his final tune-up event before the Masters, the year's first major championship, tees off in two weeks.

"I'm feeling good," Woods said.

"Everything is good. No swelling. If I can just keep it that way, everything will be great."

South Korean Charlie Wi and American Jason Dufner were the clubhouse leaders on 66, two strokes ahead of American Nick Watney with Woods among a host of players three adrift at the $6 million event.

Woods, who began off the 10th tee, birdied the par-5 12th and had back-to-back birdies at the par-4 15th and par-5 16th before taking his lone bogey at the day at 16. He answered with a final birdie at the par-5 sixth.

"I didn't really do anything great. I was just solid all day," Woods said.

"I drove the ball well, hit my irons decent and putted all right.

"I took something off most of my drives. I didn't really feel great with my tee shots but I was getting the ball in play. Ball is flying forever. Normal drives go about 310 (yards). It was kind of nice."

Woods can feel the difference in his tee shots after spending much of last year nursing injuries.

"I'm in a position where I can hit it again. That's something that has been missing for a while," Woods said.

"I feel that I can go ahead and hit that shot if called for and it's a nice little safety shot to have."

AFP

Tags: golf, sport, united-states

First posted March 23, 2012 10:33:31

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Woods feeling good ahead of return

Updated August 03, 2011 13:34:46

Fresh from a practice session and eager to play again, Tiger Woods said he feels better than he has in a long time ahead of his return this week from a three-month injury layoff.

The former world number one, speaking to reporters ahead of this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, said the left leg pain that kept him out of tournament golf since May is behind him.

"I don't feel a thing. It feels solid, it feels stable, no pain," Woods said after playing nine holes at Firestone, where he is a seven-times winner, without a noticeable limp.

Woods has not competed since he withdrew from the Players Championship in May after completing just nine holes and the 35-year-old American said he is excited to make his return to the game he once dominated.

The 14-times major champion will try to get back into the swing of things this week at Firestone, then play next week at the PGA Championship in Atlanta.

He also hopes to qualify for the season-ending playoffs for the FedEx Cup and has signed up to play the Australian Open in Sydney in November, making him a likely starter for the following week's Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne.

A practice round on Monday in Atlanta and Tuesday's nine holes pleased him, he said.

"I still haven't been in a competitive environment yet, so that's a totally different atmosphere," he said.

"But the shots felt very crisp, very clean. I was very pleased."

Woods, who missed the June 16-19 US Open at Congressional and the July 14-17 British Open at Royal St George's because of the injury, said he had the urge to resume play last week at the Greenbrier Classic, but held off.

"Docs advised that maybe I'd want to take another week of training and really start pushing it pretty hard, so I did, and I feel good now," he said.

Woods hurt his left knee ligaments and Achilles tendon during the Masters in April but returned to competition about a month later at the Players, which he said was too soon.

"If I had just sat out another week or two, I'd probably have been playing through this stretch. But I wanted to come back and play and made it worse," said Woods.

He has not won a major since the 2008 US Open nor any tournament worldwide since 2009.

Woods has also been trying to rebuild his golf swing and his private life following the breakup of his marriage after he confessed to a string of affairs.

Now he said he is ready for the challenges of a sport where young players are winning more often.

"Try to beat these boys," Woods said when asked what still excites him.

"That's fun. That's fun."

Reuters

Tags: golf, sport, united-states

First posted August 03, 2011 06:02:48

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