Tiger Woods has admitted he is nervous about his comeback eight months after undergoing surgery on his left knee.

Yet if Woods' rivals had any hopes his concession suggested the world No1 was vulnerable going into the Accenture Match Play World Championship, they were quickly dashed.

The 33-year-old American said: "The day I'm not nervous is the day I quit. To me, nerves are great. That means you care and I care about what I do.

"I take great pride in what I do and of course I'll be nervous. That's the greatest thing about it, to feel that rush."

Woods believes the operation on a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament has been such a success he's returning in better shape.

Ahead of his first-round match against Australian Brendan Jones at the Dove Mountain course in Arizona, Woods said: "Both legs have been stronger than they ever have been. Stability is something I haven't had in years.

"It's nice to make a swing and not have my bones move."

Woods went under the surgeon's knife after a win in the US Open last June that was all the more remarkable because he competed not only in pain from his damaged knee but with a double-stress fracture of his left tibia.