American Steve Stricker has admitted that Tiger Woods is looking like his old self as the duo prepare to take part in the Hero World Challenge.

The tournament in Florida, which gets underway on Thursday, will benefit Woods’ charity foundation.

Stricker, 41.00 to win the Hero World Challenge, is among the 18 players taking part and he was impressed with Woods who took part in an 18-hole workout on Wednesday afternoon.

The former world number one, 13.00 to win, will return to action after recovering from a back problem which he picked up in August.

He has world alongside swing consultant Chris Como and the pair have tried to wind back the clock, with Woods adopting a similar swing to his early days on the PGA Tour.

On Wednesday he made three birdies and only dropped one shot in his round at Isleworth and Stricker insists he was in impressive form.
He said: “He’s one of the best ever and coming back with a lot of anticipation.

“It looks like he’s swinging at it pretty good. It looks similar to the early 2000s to me.

“It looked a lot freer, didn’t look like he was getting in his way. It looked like it was on a better path. I’m sure he’s going to have some issues going forward. It will be fun to watch it play out and see how he handles it going forward.

“As far as players writing him off, I don’t think so. We all know what amazing things he has done over the course of 20 years. We know it’s in there.

“If he starts swinging it better and starts feeling good about what he’s doing again, it won’t take long for him to be at the top of the game again.”