Great news for Tiger

Following his withdrawal from the Masters due to serious back issues speculation has been rife as to when he might return. Well it seems that Woods is right on track with his recovery, maybe even ahead of schedule.

Speaking this week to ESPN's Bob Haig, Woods agent, Mark Steinberg suggested that Wood's recovery is going exactly to plan and he still aims to be back playing this summer:

"He's doing a little bit more and more each day," Steinberg told ESPN.com. "He's getting to the point of light chipping and putting and the doctors and trainers seem to be pleased with where he is. He is on schedule but we don't know what that schedule means. I don't know when he intends to be playing competitively.

"But I expect it to be this summer. I know that's a wide range, but as the weeks go by we'll be able to pinpoint an approximate time. It's still a little early for that. Nothing that has gone on from the day of the surgery until today gives me any pause to amend what I said then. I know that's broad and vague but we can't pinpoint a specific time until we're further along."

Woods was clearly suffering severe pain in the lead up to the Masters and withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The worl later found out that this was to undergo back surgery:

"The level of discomfort he was in prior to having this was incredibly high," Steinberg said. "That pain went away close to right after the surgery. The pain was mostly from the surgery itself. But the pain he was in and causing him to force the surgery is gone."

"I've seen a very responsible approach to getting back," Steinberg said. "This is about the next 10 or 15 years, this is not about the next 10 weeks. This is not about targeting any specific tournament. If he needs to wait one or two or three extra weeks he will. He's thinking about this very, very long term."