AKRON, Ohio -- About to embark on the most hectic stretch of golf he has played in years, Tiger Woods said Wednesday he began to realize a few months ago that this was possible -- and he prepared for it.
Woods, who qualified at the last minute for this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by moving into the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, is looking at playing five of the next six tournaments, including the PGA Championship next week in St. Louis.
He has also committed to the first two FedEx Cup playoff events later this month and is all but a lock to qualify for the third -- meaning three straight weeks of competition for the first time in more than five years.
"Early part of the summer, [I realized] if I played well, this is what I was going to have to endure, coming with a pretty big schedule at the very end," said Woods, who returned this year after his fourth back surgery. "We built a pretty good physical game plan for it.
"My training schedule, how to build myself, my recovery breaks even had to factor in how much I can practice, just to make sure I'm physically fit enough to get through this section. But I also want to play well and win tournaments through this. I feel like my body is good. I need to keep it that way. I still need to train really hard and limit how much I do practice, the wear and tear on the body, because I'm going to be putting it through its paces in tournament play, which as we all know, we hit the ball harder in tournaments than we do in practice."
Woods will most certainly put his back through a test over the coming weeks, starting with the WGC-Bridgestone at Firestone Country Club, where he has won eight times.
The last of his 79 PGA Tour victories came at this tournament in 2013, but a year later he was limping off the course during the final round due to back issues that surfaced following a first surgery in March of that year.
That was the last time Woods played in a World Golf Championship event -- tournaments he has won 18 times. He has not been eligible for a WGC until he slipped into the top 50 in the world with his tie for sixth two weeks ago at The Open. Woods held the outright lead with eight holes to go at Carnoustie before a double-bogey/bogey stretch knocked him out of the top spot. He ended up 3 strokes behind winner Francesco Molinari.
"As I said, it was going to sting for a while, and it certainly does because I had a great chance at it," Woods said. "I played myself into a great position. ... My game plan played myself right into the lead. So that part I was very positive about. But just the way I made a couple of mistakes there at 11 and 12 ended up costing me the tournament."
Woods said he took a Switzerland vacation with friends and family the following week before returning to prepare for the Bridgestone. He was getting his first look at the course in four years on Wednesday afternoon.
And his schedule promises to get busier if he continues to play well. Woods is 47th in the FedEx Cup standings and can improve his position over the next two weeks before the first of four playoff events.
He is all but a mathematical lock for the third event -- the BMW Championship -- which takes the top 70 players. He would need to be among the top 30 to qualify for the Tour Championship, which comes after a week break and begins on Sept. 20.
Asked about playing in the Ryder Cup the following week, Woods said he'd have no problem playing two matches in a day if asked.
"I play 36 holes all the time at home," he said. "Granted, we are in a cart and zip around there in two-hour rounds. It will certainly be different, but my job is to get on the team. I'm outside of the top eight [who automatically qualify] and I'm going to be there either case [as a vice captain], but I would like to be there as a player as well."
Woods is a long shot to make the team on points, which will be decided after next week's PGA. He is 20th in the standings. But there is a strong chance he will be one of captain Jim Furyk's four at-large picks.
When asked in his role as vice captain how he would assess himself as a player being picked for the team, Woods said: "What would be the word? ... Trending."