FORMER world No. 1 Tiger Woods, sidelined for 15 months after back surgery, will make his return to competitive golf at High Noon in Nassau, Bahamas, today alongside Patrick Reed at the Hero World Challenge.

    Pairings for the 18-man invitational event were released Monday and Woods, a 14-time major champion who has not won a major title since the 2008 U.S. Open, will be the second to play in the sixth group out.

    It will be the first time Woods has played competitively since he shared 10th at Greensboro in August of last year.

    Woods, who fell to 898th in the world rankings Monday, missed the cut at the U.S. and British Opens and the PGA Championship last year.

    Woods, whose 79 career PGA titles are three shy of Sam Snead’s all-time record, has not won a tournament since the 2014 Bridgestone Invitational, a World Golf Championships event at Akron, Ohio.

    While some pundits have questioned whether Woods will ever regain top, Jack Nicklaus thinks he could compete at the highest level for another decade and challenge his record of 18 majors.

    Woods has not played on the PGA Tour since August 2015, having undergone back surgeries in September and again in October of that year, and not won anywhere since 2013.

    However, Nicklaus said it was perhaps only the mental side of the game, which had prevented him from returning sooner.

    “I’ve always thought that he’s got at least another 10 years of good competitive golf in front of him if he’s healthy and as talented as he is,” Nicklaus was quoted as saying by BBC Sport.

    Woods, who spent a record 281 consecutive weeks as world number one, needs four majors to tie Nicklaus’s record.

    “I don’t think anything is safe,” added the 76-year-old.

    Woods had planned to return at last month’s Safeway Open in California but withdrew three days before the opening round, saying his game was not sharp enough.

    “He keeps saying he is fine ... he’s ready to play, yet he has not come back to play. That probably is the five inches between his ears that is the part that he’s having trouble with.

    “(He) has got to re-evaluate that and find out what’s going to happen to him and how can he mentally get himself back into the idea of playing golf again.”

    (SD-Agencies)