Tiger Woods makes his long-awaited return to golf tomorrow, having missed out since May due to an injured left knee and Achilles tendon.

The former world number one has dropped to an improbable 28th in the rankings after a difficult two years during which his personal life was splashed across the newspapers. He now faces an uphill struggle to regain the top spot.

His caddie, New Zealander Steve Williams, stood by him during the period but Woods has brought an end to the partnership and will go in to tomorrow’s tournament in Akron with Bryon Bell on his bag.

At the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron last year Woods finished joint 78th out of 80 players but he maintains that following his injury problems he feels better than he has done for years and is ready to impress.

“The great thing is I don’t feel a thing - it feels solid, it feels stable, no pain,” said Woods. “That’s one of the reasons why I took as long as I did to come back. I want to get to this point where I can go ahead and start playing golf again like this.”

During his illustrious career Woods has won 14 Majors; tomorrow at Akron will be the first step in a journey to make it 15.