During almost 12 years as a professional golfer, Woods has dominated the majors like no player since Nicklaus, who won 18 from the 1962 U.S. Open to the 1986 Masters.Woods has 13, beginning with a 12-stroke victory in the 1997 Masters and including a 15-stroke win in the 2000 U.S. Open, the first of four consecutive victories in major championships.

The latest surgery, to remove cartilage, was the third on the left knee for Woods, 32. The pain had bothered him throughout the early part of the season, despite victories in his first three Tour events and open talk of the possibility of a Grand Slam in 2008.”I tried to train and get everything as strong as I could in the offseason,” Woods says. “I played all right at the beginning of the year, but the knee degraded. The more I played, the worse it became.”Since the surgery, Woods has had to remain patient, chipping and putting long before he actually could take full swings or walk the golf course. Woods had planned to play the Memorial two weeks ago but canceled because, according to Nicklaus, he could not put enough weight on the knee to complete a swing. Today will be the first time he will have walked 18 holes since before the surgery.

Woods has had career interruptions in the past, and each time he has returned to string wins together like charms on a bracelet.In late 2002, he had a cyst removed and fluid drained from the same knee, but he returned in ‘03 at Torrey Pines to win the Buick Invitational and two other tournaments in his first four starts.In 2006, he left the Tour for nine weeks, from The Masters until the U.S. Open, to work through the grief of his father’s death. He closed that year with six consecutive PGA Tour victories, including the British Open and the PGA Championship.His first tournament back, however, was the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. With little preparation — no competitive rounds between The Masters and the Open — Woods shot 76-76 and missed the cut. It’s the only time in his professional career he has missed the cut at a major.

Woods’ comfort and success at Torrey Pines will be tempered some because late-spring conditions differ from winter’s, and the U.S. Golf Association — which runs the U.S. Open — sets up courses differently from the PGA Tour. This week, Torrey Pines will be 7,643 yards — the longest venue in U.S. Open history — and par 71 (it played at 7,569 yards and par 72 for the Buick). It has two par-5s that are more than 600 yards long, and the greens will be firmer and faster.

Tee time for Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods was at 11:06 a.m.-4:36 p.m. It is now five to twelve and so far Tiger double bogies first hole and  hits par on #2. Tell me, do you think Tiger will take this one too?

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