Tiger on schedule for U.S. Open

2008-05-27

Share this article:  Digg |  StumbleUpon |  del.icio.us |  Reddit

BETHESDA, Maryland (Ticker) -- Tiger Woods ended speculation
regarding his status for this year's U.S. Open, announcing
Tuesday that he is on schedule to participate in the season's
second major.

Woods, who is recovering from arthroscopic left knee surgery,
admitted that he has grown bored of rehabbing the injury during
a news conference promoting his own PGA event, the AT&T
National.

But the world No. 1 confirmed that he will be ready for the U.S.
Open, which starts June 12 at Torrey Pines.

"The rehab is working," Woods said. "It gets really old riding
that bike, man. But everything is on schedule. I'm just trying
to get this thing organized for the Open. I'm right on schedule
for that."

Woods has not played since finishing second to Trevor Immelman
at The Masters last month. The 13-time major winner had surgery
on the knee on April 15, two days after leaving Augusta.

The 32-year-old Woods already has withdrawn from this week's
Memorial and claims he will not participate in next week's
Stanford St. Jude Championship.

"I started my practice basically just recently," he said. "So
going to Memorial that rusty, it wouldn't have made any sense.
I wasn't sharp enough. I didn't hit all my shots I needed to
hit yet at home and make sure everything is organized. I wasn't
quite ready.

"So no sense in going there not ready. The whole idea is to be
ready for the U.S. Open."

Woods traditionally has been inconsistent at the U.S. Open,
recording two victories and two second-place finishes but also
placing outside of the top 15 six times in the last 11 years.
He even missed the cut for the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

But Woods, who won the 2002 Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines
after having surgery on the same knee, said that he will be
prepared to rebound quickly from the injury.

"It's not like I haven't been down this road before," he said.
"I had a procedure done and came back at Torrey Pines.

"So I know what it takes to win a tournament coming back off
after having a procedure done, and it is just a matter of being
prepared, getting all my practice time in, making sure my shots
are how I want them, trying to understand what my misses might
be."