Woods 'ready' for return

Tiger Woods is nervous ahead of his return to competitive golf but insists he is 'ready to go'.

Woods has undergone two back surgeries since finishing tied for tenth at the Wyndham Championship in August 2015 and as a result he missed all four majors in a calendar year for the first time in his career.

He had been due to make his return in the Safeway Open in October but he withdrew from the event after declaring his game to be 'vulnerable' and opted not to play in the Turkish Airlines Open.

The former world number one will finally make his return at his own Hero World Challenge in Barbados this week and he is looking forward to playing competitively.

"I'm not dead. I'm ready to go. I'm nervous for every tournament I play in, whether it's after a lay-off, or six in a row, or a major," he told ESPN.

"I care. If I care, I'm nervous and it's good to be that way. To have that nervous energy and channel it into aggression, into focus, concentration - that's good stuff.

"If I wasn't nervous, that would mean I didn't care. I don't want to be out there flat."

With Nike due stop manufacturing equipment, Woods play with TaylorMade woods and a Bridgestone ball in the Bahamas.

"The most important thing is the ball. Once you find a ball, then you can work around everything else. The ball is number one. The most important club in the bag is the ball," Woods added.

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