Tiger Woods expects to return to his old form

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Tiger Woods says football players who have the kind of knee surgery that ended his season usually are not at their best for two years.

“Luckily, I don’t play football,” Woods said Monday.

Woods said his knee will probably be no more than 85 percent strong when he returns, but he sees no reason why he can’t get back to the level of play that brought him nine victories in 12 official events this year, no finish worse than a tie for fifth.

One week after winning the U.S. Open in a 19-hole playoff at Torrey Pines, Woods had surgery to rebuild the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. If the healing process runs its normal course, he said he will not be able to swing a club until January at the earliest.

“The healing process for an ACL is six months,” Woods said during a video conference to announce the 16-man field for his Chevron World Challenge in December. “No matter what I try to do, I can’t speed up that process. That puts me into January. Unfortunately, I can’t rotate, I can’t practice on that leg until then.”

Woods said his goal was getting his body healthy for 2009 to compete at a high level.

Woods said his nine months of competition leading up to his playoff victory at the U.S. Open were the best stretch of his career.

“I think I played better in this stretch than I have at any time in my career,” he said. “I may have won more major championships, but I certainly have never been in contention in as many events, or won as many events in a row. I had a pretty good run.”

| The Associated Press

Posted on Mon, Sep. 29, 2008 10:15 PM

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