Wednesday 24 January 2018 18:52, UK
The return of Tiger Woods to full-field PGA Tour action in California has understandably generated much interest in the golfing media, but what are the pros saying?
The likes of Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm have welcomed the reappearance of the 14-time major champion, who headlines a strong field at Torrey Pines for the Farmers Insurance Open.
Woods has won eight times at this venue, including his last major title - the 2008 US Open - but he missed the cut last year and played only one further competitive round in Dubai the following week before his back problems flared up.
The 42-year-old underwent spinal fusion surgery, the fourth major operation on his back, but he looked in good health at the Hero World Challenge last month and remains optimistic of being able to play a full schedule in 2018.
Here's what his fellow pros have been saying about Woods this week ...
"I think everyone is intrigued to see how Tiger plays. Even scrolling through Instagram and seeing some of the clips, seeing how he's swinging, seeing how he's moving; I think everyone wants to see how he gets on.
"Just having Tiger in the conversation in golf is huge, and it's great for the game. It's better for the players and it creates more interest. It's better for you guys because there's more of a buzz about golf; people want it read about it.
"It's great all around and hopefully his body lets him play a nice, consistent run of events for the next few years and we'll see where that gets him. But anyway, he's hungry to get back out there and play."
"I think that he looked pretty good at the Hero World Challenge, but he has looked good in the past and then, you know, he hasn't lasted too long. Hopefully he's able to get in a bit of a rhythm when it comes down to playing tournaments, but nobody knows.
"I think I can say that probably he doesn't even know how his back and his body is going to cope with everything that goes on with playing tournaments, practising and everything that comes with it.
"Of course we need him, he's done so much for the game, but if he's not there, will the game of golf fall apart? I don't think so. The more big-time players we have on Tour, the better it is for the game globally and he's obviously one of those."
"The more attention you guys have on Tiger, the better for me, frankly! Hopefully, I keep playing good and give you guys something to talk about, but it's not bad that the attention's on Tiger. It's good for golf, it's good for all of us.
"Tiger getting in contention, it would be absolutely amazing. A lot of us dreamed about having the opportunity to maybe walk the back nine with Tiger in contention and have a battle hand-in-hand.
"I hope it happens and I hope I'm the one, and quite truly I hope I come out on top if it happens."
"I saw him at the Presidents Cup and he was kind of downtalking his chances and so on. You know, I felt for him a little bit and I could feel he's done a lot of work physically. You could feel he's getting ready for something.
"I think in the back of his mind, he was really getting ready for this year, and physically, feels as strong as ever. I just hope his back holds up because he's hitting it hard again, as you saw in the Bahamas.
"So it all looks good, you know, for a good year from him, hopefully."
"I said last week that he has the ball speed to win now. With that 180mph ball speed, that's incredible. You need that for that course because those courses, they are both over 7,400 yards now. If he can get the driver in play and hit irons good like he has been, and from what I've heard, he seems to be in great shape.
"He's hitting it great. It will come down to his short game and how much rust there is and this and that, I don't know. I really don't know. The one thing he does have is all the experience from playing there forever and obviously won there a bunch of times, but we'll see.
"I'm as anxious as anybody to see how he does and hopefully, you know, hopefully he'll just come back and just kind of get rolling again and not have any problems and no more back, no more stuff, just kind of get back in the swing of things and play as long as he wants. That would be nice to see."
