Not 100 percent yet, Woods still confident about return

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Tiger Woods will make his return to the TOUR at the U.S. Open after a long post-surgery hiatus.

He hasn't played 18 holes -- yet.

Tiger Woods does plan on getting a few rounds in very soon, though, as he prepares to return to the PGA TOUR next week when the U.S. Open is played at Torrey Pines.

Woods had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee the Tuesday after he finished second at the Masters. Some expected him to return at the Memorial, but reports had him walking with a slight limp at a press conference last week for the AT&T National that he hosts.

Woods met with the media again on Monday via a video transmission from his Orlando home to promote his title defense at the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills. He was characteristically optimistic and anxious to play.

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We haven't seen Tiger in action since the Masters, where he finished second.

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The game's No. 1 player said he had been practicing "quite a bit" and that he had just started to play a few holes. He said "everything is holding up well. It's just a matter of getting the feel of playing again."

At the same time, Woods admitted his knee was not 100 percent. He didn't appear particularly concerned, though.

"It's getting there," he said. "Hopefully, it's closer to 100 percent, but if it's not, no big deal. I have won tournaments when it wasn't 100 percent. It's just a matter of getting into the competitive flow and the rhythm of the game again."

Woods said pain was an issue immediately after the surgery but not lately. His much-vaunted workout regime undoubtedly has helped him recover more quickly.

In fact, Woods hoped strengthening the knee during the offseason would have made surgery a moot point. He won the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines by eight strokes in his 2008 debut, then won his next two to bring his PGA TOUR win streak to five.

"Obviously, I played all right early, but it kept degrading and wasn't getting any better," Woods said. "Toward the Florida swing, it was getting worse."

So he made the decision to have surgery. Now, the game's No. 1 player said, the focus is on "getting the endurance back up in my leg and getting used to the twisting and torquing and hitting ball after ball."

The last time Woods had surgery on his left knee was in December of 2002. He returned to the TOUR at Torrey Pines and proceeded to win the Buick Invitational for the second of his record six times.

The South Course Woods will be playing next week, though, is very different than the one the TOUR visits each January. The course will play as the longest in U.S. Open history, and the USGA will further challenge the game's best players with its trademark narrow fairways and unforgiving rough.

Ironically, though, Woods isn't worried about doing any further damage to his knee should his ball stray into the tall grass.

"The rough puts less torque on my knee," he said. "For some reason, the rough stops everything."

Woods, who plans to play three of the next four weeks, is curious to see how Torrey Pines is playing. He wonders what the site lines are, how quick the greens will be and how the ball runs in the firm, fast fairways.

"When we play in January, we don't have the run outs," Woods said.

Woods said he could have played next week regardless of whether a major championship was on the agenda. He says he hasn't watched much golf on TV -- unless one of his friends was in contention -- but he's ready now, and, this time, the cameras will be on him.

"I am looking forward to it," Woods said. "It's obviously been a while since I've played competitively. I am looking forward to mixing it up with the guys."