Woods confident ahead of WGC Matchplay Championship

Tiger Woods says he is in better shape than ever as he prepares to defend his WGC Matchplay Championship after months out of the game following knee surgery.

While many believe that Woods could take months to return to top form, the world number one says that learning to cope with his knee injury has helped him perfect other areas of his game.

“My short game has gotten a little bit better,” Woods told the Press Association. “I’ve got more shots than I did before, just because I’ve spent so much time on it, chipping and all the different shots around the greens.”

“Some of the shots I had forgotten that I had over the years, I kind of remembered how to hit them again, which was kind of nice.”

Woods has also framed his injury enforced absence from the game as a much needed break from competitive golf, and an opportunity to work on and reinvigorate his game.

“The first few months are pretty tough,” Woods said. “You’re in quite a bit of pain, and it was just a lack of strength, mobility, just a lot of different things that you take for granted. That’s all taken away from you.”

“You start feeling pretty normal probably around five months, start feeling pretty good. But still, five months is a very long time. The six, seven-month mark you start feeling really good, and here I am at eight months out.”

Woods enters the 2009 WGC Matchplay Championship as the favourite in William Hill’s outright betting markets. He begins his title defence on Wednesday with a match against Brendan Jones of Australia.