Tiger Woods to be Reappeared on The Golf Courts - - Positive Public Reactions at His Practice Round at Augusta National

AUGUSTA, GA.—The reception to his first practice round in public was all positive for Tiger Woods at Augusta National Monday. Now he needs to see how his own golf game shapes up in the Masters after five scandal-soaked months away from competition.

“The fans were incredible. I'm looking forward to the first tee (Thursday) and getting out there and doing what I've done for a very long time,” he said at a 34-minute press conference after playing 18 holes with Fred Couples and the final five with Jim Furyk, who joined in.

“I haven't looked forward to that tee shot in a long time, not like this,” Woods said. “It feels fun again and that's something that has been missing. Have I been winning, have I been competing, have I been doing well? Yes, I have. I won numerous times the last few years, but I wasn't having anywhere near the amount of fun. Why? Because you look at what I was engaged in. When you live a life of lying all the time, life is not fun. That's where I was and that's been stripped all away and here I am. It feels fun again.”

Woods provided no details on his car crash of last Nov. 27, which sent his world spinning out of control, or his serial marital infidelities. He did admit that Toronto-based doctor Anthony Galea treated his surgically repaired knee, and added that he also suffered a torn Achilles tendon in late 2008 that required Galea's blood-spinning treatments, “but he never gave me HGH (human growth hormone) or PEDs (performance-enhancing drugs). I've never taken that my entire life. I've never taken any illegal drug, ever, for that matter,” Woods said.

“I had PRP, platelet-enriched plasma treatments,” he said. “I blew out my ACL in 2008 and as part of my reconstruction (another ligament) got stuck so I had a PRP injection in it. Then in December (of 2008) I started to train and I tore my Achilles in my right leg. I then had PRP injections throughout the year. I kept re-tearing it through the year. I used tape most of the year to play,” he added.

He also said his agent, Mark Steinberg, has been approached by U.S. federal authorities looking into allegations against Galea. Woods promised “full co-operation whenever they need me, but as of right now they have not asked for my time.”

As far as playing at Augusta, Woods said he decided only in February to try.

“When I gave my speech in February, I had no intentions of playing golf in the near future at all. I had just barely started practising two days before that,” he said. “And then I started hitting more and more balls and I started getting the itch to start playing again. And (swing coach Hank Haney) came down and we started working and that felt great. It felt like old times ... and that's when I made the decision to come back and play.

“The reason I didn't come back and play earlier, at Tavistock Cup or Bay Hill, was I wasn't ready for it. I needed more time. Hank and I have come up here the past two Mondays and Tuesdays.

“The fact that I haven't really played at all is a little disconcerting,” he said. “I'm hoping to get my game back quickly, you know, the feel for the game, feel for the shots, feel how my body is reacting and what my distances are going to be. I hope I get that back relatively quickly.”

He also reiterated he would “respect” the game more, swear less and throw fewer clubs “and try not to get as hot when I play. But then again, when I'm not as hot, I'm not going to be as exuberant, either. I can't play one without the other. I made a conscious decision to try to tone down my negative outbursts.”