Tiger Woods Insists: 'I'll Be Ready' For This Week's PGA Championship

Lest you think Tiger Woods is just happy to be there, think again. Slated to participate in this week's PGA Championship from Tulsa, Woods is out for blood.

Well, not really blood, but you get the point - Tiger's here to win.

Competing for the first time since finishing 47th at The Masters, Woods was asked if he thought he could sit atop the leaderboard by week's end. "I feel like I can, definitely," Woods said Tuesday via Golfweek. "I just have to go out there and do it. I have to do my work. Starts on Thursday and I'll be ready."

Woods played the Masters less than 14 months after a life-threatening car crash left his future within the sport in serious doubt. Numerous surgeries and continual rehab have left Woods with a leg that in addition to pain, no longer functions as intended. But Tiger insists the pain isn't a roadblock.

"It was more mind than body," Woods said of his Masters week. "I said, I've won with a broken leg before. Keep on going out there, keep pushing."

Busted leg and all, Woods has been down this road before and looks forward to competing in a tournament he won in 2007. Tiger took just one day off after The Masters and has since been preparing his body for the rigors of walking the course. During a Sunday practice round Woods appeared notably more fit and later confirmed he's "gotten a lot stronger since The Masters."

Now, six weeks after last competing, a stronger Woods is focused on the task at hand. "I feel like I'm doing better. I'm having more days (that) are better, more positive," Woods told Golfweek. "Able to practice a little bit longer. So I'm able to do activities and things that I was hoping to do, and I'm finally able to do them."

Tiger's quest to claw his way back to contender status commences Thursday when the PGA Championship tees off from Southern Hills Country Club.

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