Tiger Woods is counting down the minutes to his competitive comeback at this week's Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas and says after a year on the sidelines he is even enjoying the pre-tournament nerves. The 40-year-old has been sidelined for 15 months due to back-related issues. He planned to return at last month's PGA Tour's Safeway Open in California but withdrew three days before the opening round, saying his game was not sharp enough. The 14-time major champion told British media that had been the right decision and he was now in better shape to return at the Dec. 1-4 tournament he hosts. "I'm not dead, I'm ready to go," said Woods. "I'm nervous for every tournament I play in whether it's after a lay-off or six in a row or a major. 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. I want to be out here so bad; and now I am." Woods has not played on the PGA Tour since August 2015, having undergone surgeries in September and again in October of that year due to ongoing back problems. The greatest player of his generation and arguably of all time, he has not won a tournament anywhere since 2013 and his title drought in the major championships dates back to 2008. Woods, who has fallen to 898th in the world, said it had been a wise decision not to rush his return. "The competitor inside me wanted to go so badly and was itching to go. I thought if I only have a few shots, it's good enough to get it around," he added. "But what's the point in rushing back when I've waited over a year to begin with? I've waited this long, it's not going to hurt to wait just this much longer." Woods will make his return at High Noon Thursday alongside Patrick Reed at the Hero World Challenge. Pairings for the 18-man invitational event were released Monday and Woods will be the second to play in the sixth group out. It will be the first time Woods has played in the event owned by his charity foundation since it moved last year to the Bahamas and the Albany resort's par-72, 7,267-yard Ernie Els-designed course. Defending champion Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler are the first duo out at 11:10 a.m. followed at 10-minute intervals by two more US pairs, Jimmy Walker and Brandt Snedeker then J.B. Holmes and Zach Johnson. Reigning Olympic champion Justin Rose of England and Sweden's Henrik Stenson, the runner-up in Rio, will start at 11:40 in a repeat of their dramatic last-round Olympic pairing, with past winner Jordan Spieth and Matt Kuchar next followed by Woods and Reed. Reigning US Open champion Dustin Johnson and fellow American Brooks Koepka follow Woods onto the course with the final two duos consisting of international talent - Japan's Hideki Matsuyama and South African Louis Oosthuizen followed by Scotsman Russell Knox and Argentina's Emiliano Grillo.
