Tiger Woods is in better shape than he believed would be possible for his first stroke-play tournament in nine months on Thursday.
Woods plays at Doral in the WGC-CA Championship, having returned from an eight-month injury lay-off two weeks ago at the WGC-Accenture Match Play event in Arizona.
The world number one managed one victory, over Australia's Brendan Jones, before being upset by South African Tim Clark.
But more importantly the American said on Wednesday that he had suffered no adverse affects on his surgically reconstructed left knee.
"Everything was better than I thought," Woods said.
"It was a big shot of confidence for me to get out there and play again and feel physically sound.
"To walk out there and play and then compete and get a feel for that competitive environment was everything I could possibly have imagined.
"I thought I would be a little more sore than I was. Recovery from day-to-day has been great.
"It couldn't have been more positive, except for obviously getting beaten in the second round. But from a physical standpoint, it was better than I thought it would be."
Woods faces a more severe test at Doral where he will play in his first stroke-play event since winning the US Open at Torrey Pines last June, after which he underwent season-ending reconstructive knee surgery.
He is guaranteed to play 72 holes this week in a no-cut tournament featuring the top 80 players in the world, and Woods believes the format will prove a better gauge of how ready he is for competitive golf.
"I've only played in the Match Play event," Woods said.
"Physically, I feel good but getting into a stroke-play event and where you're not playing an opponent and you're playing the golf course again; I'll have a better idea when the tournament is done."
Playing stroke-play also required a change in mindset, Woods said.
"Stroke-play is more of a marathon. You're trying to set yourself up for the last round, and in match-play, it is the last round, each and every round you play," Woods said.
"That's what makes it as much fun as it is, the unpredictability of it all. It's the rush of going out on the first tee in match-play, knowing that you had better have it.
"In stroke-play, you can actually have a bad day and still win a golf tournament. In match-play, you just don't know if you can get away with having a bad day and still win your match."
Woods has certainly had more good days than bad at Doral where he has never finished out of the top 10 in six events, winning for three years in a row between 2005 and 2007, the first two times when the tournament was a regular PGA Tour stop, rather than a WGC event.
"Certain golf courses just fit your eye," the world number one said.
"I've had some success in certain places. You know, one being Torrey Pines here, Firestone, Augusta I've won multiple times; Bay Hill.
"Certain golf courses just fit your eye. This golf course, ever since I played here in '98 for the first time, it just fit my eye. Even after the re-design, it still fit my eye.
"Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes re-designs may throw it off. For instance, Torrey Pines didn't when they re-designed that golf course. I still felt the set lines were great. But this golf course has just always fit my eye."
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