Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: Tiger Woods Feels "Explosive Again"

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- In Tuesday's pre-tournament press conference with a packed Media Center of reporters at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Tiger Woods addressed several things: His health, his love of the Bay Area and how his golf game compares to past stints at Pebble Beach.

One notable comment from Woods should scare the rest of the PGA Tour field at Pebble Beach this week and for the rest of the season. Woods talked about how his health compared to just two months ago, and in not so many words, proclaimed he is back.

"I've been rehabbing pretty much the last couple of years, and i haven't been able to train. I haven't been healthy enough," Woods said in Tuesday's press conference. "Now I'm healthy enough to do it, and i can do what Sean (Foley) wants me to do."

When it comes to practicing and properly preparing for tournaments, Woods said that is something that has changed substantially in recent weeks.

"I can literally practice all day if i want to," Woods said. "For a long time there, there was always some kind of limited ball count or i had to get back to treatment. That's not longer the case."

"It's why i think i've made such huge progress since the Frys," he said. "I'm now training and my body feels explosive again. Consequently, I'm hitting the ball further."

Tuesday was not about looking towards the future or rehabbing that knee for Woods. He was all about winning and winning now, something we have not heard him say in awhile.

For the past two years, Woods has expressed that discomfort in the fact he did not feel like himself on the golf course due to his inability to practice or properly heal from injury. Now, Woods is upbeat about his game and acknowledged the fact that this is the best he has felt in some time now.

"My body feels explosive again"

Nobody knows Woods' body like Woods, and he has made a note of that in interviews past. For him to come out and say that he feels "explosive," using that strong of a word, followed by "again" is a big statement even from a pre-tournament presser during the beginning of a PGA Tour season.

"Again" refers to his dominance pre-November 2009, and that is enough to send chills up golf fans' spines.

In the past, it was not uncustomary for Woods to talk about how his body feels, be honest about it and alert the media that something is not right. On Tuesday, that changed, and he made it clear that the time is now for his game to earn him a spot back on the PGA Tour's leaderboard.

It is a scary thought, as well as a scary quote, being that Woods was so dominant when he previously talked about his game like this. But Woods let everyone know on Tuesday that his game is back and he is not opposed to letting people know all about it.

We can expect performances like the one in Abu Dhabi to be of the norm in the coming PGA Tour season. As for the Pebble Beach Pro-Am this week, Woods is expected to win for the first time in recent memory.