Tiger Woods: ‘I Am Starting to Feel a Lot Better’

Tiger Woods announced progress on his website regarding his return to golf from back problems.

“As I announced last week, I am starting to feel a lot better,” he wrote at TigerWoods.com. “I have been chipping and putting at home, and recently started hitting 9 irons. That’s been so nice. After all, Florida is the Sunshine State.”

The post comes a week after Woods shared a video showing him hitting balls on a golf simulator. “Progressing nicely,” he captioned the video, which came as an oblique response to Fox Sports reporter Robert Lusetich’s claims that the winner of 14 majors had suffered severe setbacks in his rehabilitation.

“My son Charlie and I compete in just about everything and have three-hole chipping contests,” Woods wrote on Wednesday. “The loser has to do push-ups. My short game feels pretty sharp.”

Woods last competed more than six months ago at the Wyndham Championship. He endured two back surgeries since then and a plummeting world ranking that now sits at #445.

“The big thing right now is trying to get stronger and more flexible,” he explained. “Sitting out as long as I did, some weakening occurred, and I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

That rehabilitation would seem to preclude a return in time for the Masters, a tournament Woods has won four times. The event takes place at Augusta National in a little over a month.

“While there is no timetable on my return to competitive golf,” Woods concedes, “I want to play this game at the highest level again. In order to do that, I have to get healthy.”