Tiger Woods pleased with last round before PGA comeback

BETHESDA, Maryland: Tiger Woods was pleased with his final practice round before returning to competition after a three-month injury layoff, saying Wednesday he is still rusty but his back feels fine.
“Generally it feels good,” Woods said. “I hit some loose shots today but I also hit some really good ones. Back feels great which is a really good sign.”
Woods played a morning pro-am round ahead of his Thursday morning start at the $6.5 million US PGA National at Congressional Country Club.
The former world No. 1 has not played a competitive round since March 9 following back surgery to ease a pinched nerve, but hopes to test his game at this event, which he won in 2009 and 2012, ahead of next month’s British Open.
“A little bit rusty but really manage my way around this golf course,” Woods said. “This golf course is playing tough. The guys aren’t going to go really low here.
“Just got to keep it in front of me and obviously put the ball in the right spots on these greens because if you’re in the wrong spots, it’s an unfortunately tough task to make birdies.”
Woods, a 14-time major winner chasing the all-time record of 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, has not won a major title since the 2008 US Open.
He won five tour titles last year, leaving him three shy of matching Sam Snead’s all-time record of 82 PGA victories.
Woods continues to undergo therapy around serving as tournament host for the event, which benefits his charity foundation.
The 38-year-old American, who has sunk to fifth in the world rankings, tees off Thursday at 8:12 a.m. (1212 GMT) alongside Australian Jason Day and US star Jordan Spieth on the 10th hole.
“The course is drying out pretty good,” Woods said. “The ball started running. The course was playing really long.”
Woods blasted out of uneven lies and deep rough several times, something he said was not a major re-injury issue for his back after having tested it in such situations.
“I tried it out last week and didn’t have any problem,” Woods said.
He did blame a poor tee shot at the 18th on a grip issue.
“My grip got a bit weak. I was losing the ball to the right so just got to strengthen it up,” Woods said. “Something we were working on last week, just tends to creep over there into a weaker position, but strengthening it again and start piping it again.”
Woods will command the greatest attention but plenty of other contenders will be taking aim at the $1.17 million top prize.
South African star Ernie Els, who won one of his two US Open titles at Congressional, will play alongside 2013 US Open winner Justin Rose of England and American Keegan Bradley in the first two rounds.
Defending champion Bill Haas tees off alongside fellow American Jason Dufner, last year’s PGA Championship winner, and South Korea’s K.J. Choi, who was second in last week’s PGA event.
Another grouping offers three former US Open winners — Australian Geoff Ogilvy, Argentina’s Angel Cabrera and South African Retief Goosen.