“The best scenario would be a tournament a month, like Genesis (in February), then something in March, maybe the Players,” Woods said. “The biggest events (major championships) are one per month. It sets itself up for that. Now, I need to get myself ready for that and this week is a big step in that direction.”

Added Woods on Tuesday: "I love competing. I love playing. I miss being out here with the guys. I miss the camaraderie and the fraternity like atmosphere out here, and the overall banter. But what drives me is I love to compete. There will come a point in time, I haven't come around to it fully yet, that I won't be able to win again. When that day comes and I'll walk."

Asked whether he still believes he can win on tour again - snapping a tie with Sam Snead for the PGA Tour record wins - Woods declared: 'Absolutely'.

However, while fans will be rejoicing at the highly-anticipated return of the golfing legend, he warned not to expect his A game to be there from the get-go: "My game feels rusty, I haven't played in a while and I have my subtalar fused, and so I'm excited to compete and play.

'I'm just as curious as all of you are to see what happens because I haven't done it in a while, and I can tell you this, I don't have any of the pain that I had at Augusta or pre-that in my ankle. Other parts are taking the brunt of the load, so I'm a little bit more sore in other areas, but the ankle's good. So that surgery was a success."

He added: I've played a lot of holes. But I haven't used a pencil and a score card, okay? So now you put a pencil to paper and that really counts, it's a little bit different story, and so I'm very curious about that as well.'

The previous concern over Woods' ability to play a round was not his game itself but rather the issue of walking the course due to the pain in his ankle and leg.

However, following the surgery, he revealed that walking was no longer as great a concern.

"I'm not concerned at all walking it. I don't have any of the ankle pains I had with the hardware that has been placed in my foot. That's all gone, but it's more the other parts of my body, my knee hurts, my back, the forces go somewhere else. Just like when I had my back fused, the forces got to go somewhere. It's up the chain. So as I said, I'm just as curious as with all of you what's going to happen. I haven't done this in a while."

Woods added that golf with son Charlie, who he will compete with at the PNC Championship for a fourth time next month, was the principal factor in deciding he was ready to return.

"As far as the commitment to playing, probably after I caddied with Charlie and was able to recover each and every day like that," he said. "People don't realise I was still lifting and still doing a bunch of other things too, in conjunction with the endurance part of it. And I was hitting golf balls a lot, trying to get Charlie ready for the event. Then post event I started feeling I can probably do this, so why not. Talked to the committee, and a committee of one was able to give me a spot."

Woods will partner Justin Thomas in the firsty round at the Hero Challenge, teeing off just before midday Irish time (11.52am).