Tiger Woods is 'loving life' ahead of latest comeback

Tiger Woods said that more than six months after an operation to fuse vertebrae in his lower back, he was not only pain free, but was off of the multiple medications that he had used to manage the pain that followed the surgery.

The procedure, which was carried out back in April, was the fourth back operation for the now 41-year-old 14-time major champion. Several weeks later, on May 29, Woods made the international headlines after police found him asleep at the wheel of his running car – which led to a driving-under-the-influence charge. Subsequent toxicology tests found that as he claimed at the time, Woods had not consumed any alcohol, but he had a wide array of prescription drugs in his bloodstream.

"I was trying to go away from the pain and I was trying to sleep, which I hadn't done in a very long time because of the things I've been dealing with," Woods said of the events leading up to that incident. "I've come out the other side and I feel fantastic."

'Don't know where I'm at'

However, Woods, who is to play the Hero World Challenge at Albany, Bahamas this week, said he had no idea how well he would be able to play.

"I don't know where I'm at," he said. "What I mean by that is I don't know how hard I can hit it, what shots can I play ... I don't know what the future entails in that regard because I'm still learning this body."

Tiger Woods's last win on the PGA Tour was the 2013 Bridgestone invitational, the 79th of his career, which left him three short of the record of 82 held by San Snead. His last major title was the 2008 US Open. 

pfd/ftm (AFP, AP)