Woods upbeat despite defeat

12 April 2012

Tiger Woods went home early from his first tournament back after eight months out through injury - but he found plenty of positives to take with him.

South Africa's Tim Clark ruined Woods' comeback from reconstructive knee surgery by inflicting a 4&2 defeat on the world number one and defending champion at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

But Woods said: "I'm very pleased actually with the way I hit the golf ball. I didn't make enough birdies. I made some on Wednesday, just didn't make enough (against Clark). But I hit the ball well the last two days, and that's encouraging."

He continued: "Also the way my leg feels, after walking, and especially on this golf course, going up and down the cart paths, especially down the cart paths - my leg feels pretty good.

"No pain at all. Zero."

Wood insisted he had not even experienced any of the soreness he had expected after his first-round victory over Australia's Brendan Jones.

"It felt good," he added. "It felt really good.

"I just iced and elevated it and didn't have any soreness, which was nice."