Randall Mell

Even during rehabilitation from reconstructive knee surgery, Tiger Woods kept pushing.

One more lap in the pool, five more minutes on the treadmill, one more repetition with the weights...

At 33, with a fortune already in the bank, with records piling up that may never be broken, he is making his return to golf as driven as any athlete alive.

The Masters is just around the corner, and he’s as hungry to win it as he was the first time he teed it up at Augusta National as a pro a dozen years ago.

With 14 professional major championship titles to his credit, just four short of Jack Nicklaus’ record total, Woods is working as hard as he has ever worked.

This ambition impresses the game’s old guard as much as any of Woods’ attributes.

“It’s fun to see a person dominate his business, whatever business you’re in,” two-time U.S. Open winner Andy North said. “I love watching people do things well, and Tiger definitely does the golf thing pretty well. I think the neatest thing about Tiger is that while everyone talks about the fact that he’s made a billion dollars, he could care less. He’s trying to win, and he’s trying to get better every day, and he’s so driven to keep improving. Not many people would have made the changes he’s made over his career because they would have been content where they were.

“It’s very hard to keep that ambition. In any business it’s hard to go to the office every single day and want to be better, particularly when you are the best already.”

And particularly when your office is filled with fanatics whose demands threaten to drain you.

Woods is on the back nine in his pursuit of Nicklaus, just a Grand Slam away from reaching him. The pressure promises to ratchet up with every major he wins, the scrutiny to intensify.

Roger Maris started losing his hair in 1961 in the chase to catch Babe Ruth’s then-record 60 homers.

Bobby Jones retired from golf at 28 to escape the pressures of the game.

Byron Nelson walked away at 34 for similar reasons.

Woods keeps pushing, though.

“Early in Tiger’s career, people speculated what might stop him,” eight-time major championship winner Tom Watson said. “They thought maybe having a family would do it. We haven’t seen that. He has two children now. They thought maybe complacency, that money or something else might corrupt his desire. We haven’t seen that, either. They also thought maybe injury would thwart him.”

We’ll see on that, but so-far, so-good, with Woods raving about the strength of his rebuilt knee.

Woods teed it up at the CA Championship at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa saying he experienced no setbacks in his initial return at the Accenture Match Play Championship, where he was eliminated after two rounds.

Slideshow   Tiger returns to Doral Check out Tiger Woods in action at the World Golf Championships - CA Championship. more photos

The possibility exists Woods may be better than ever on this rebuilt knee once he works the rust off his game.

“Some of the shots, the movements I was trying to implement on my golf swing, I couldn’t physically do,” Woods said of the knee before this last surgery. “I didn’t have a left leg to hit against. The bones would move, and I would try to jump out there because of the pain, try to get off it. It hurt like hell to hit against it.

“So it’s finally nice to be able to actually hit against a left leg and feel that stableness. I’m controlling my ball a little better now, with less effort. I don’t have to work as hard.”

But you know Woods will work just as hard on improving his game, maybe even harder as he nears Nicklaus and the record he covets.

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“Tiger wants to win, and he wants to win every day,” six-time major championship winner Lee Trevino said. “There’s no such thing as 'I’m tired.' There’s no such thing as 'I can’t play this course' or 'I can’t play in the rain,' or 'I can’t play in the mud.' If he tees it up, he's disappointed if he doesn't win, and he'll be at the range Monday morning at 7 trying to figure out why he didn't win. That's why I like him."

It’s why so many golf fans missed him when he was away and are relishing his return in the lead up to The Masters.

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