Tiger Woods has vowed to return from injury in time for the Masters at Augusta in April next year.
The world number one continues to make steady progress from the serious knee injury that has kept him off the course since his heroic victory in the US Open in June.
Woods insists he will not swing a club before January in order to give the knee every chance to heal but believes his game will be ship-shape for the first Major of 2009.
"If I have six months off from surgery, that puts me into January, and another four months, that puts me at pretty much 10 months," he said. "That's a long time. I figure I can come back after 10 months.
"Generally it's between six-to-nine months and (American football players) are able to come back and compete and play. And if they can do it at that level, I hope I can do it in golf.
"You have to let the ligament heal. It has to get more taut. I don't want to stretch it out. I don't want to have it go back to where it was.
"I have to keep it taut, which means no rotation, everything in a straight plane. I feel good. I can do everything, except for rotation right now. I'm not allowed to rotate yet."
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