Winless last season, Woods eager for a fresh start

SAN DIEGO - Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines felt like the start of any other season on the PGA Tour, except when he awoke at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday and realized he had plenty of time on his hands.

Gone was the crack-of-dawn tee time in the pro-am that had belonged to him for so many years, a product of being the No. 1 player. He was 68th on the money list last year and no longer gets first pick of the best tee times.

"I get to sleep in a little bit," Woods said. "Got up at 3:30 this morning not knowing what to do."

He isn't the defending champion, even though Woods hasn't lost at Torrey Pines since 2004. Then again, he hasn't played since 2008 because of knee surgery, followed by an imploding personal life last year.

Woods said he was looking forward to the Farmers Insurance Open, which can be interpreted so many ways.

It's a new year, and he would just as soon forget about the last one. Woods failed to win anywhere in the world for the first time in his pro career while going through a divorce brought on by his extramarital affairs.

He also feels that he has restored a sense of balance to his life, and he's eager to see how that will translate to golf.

"I think in order to play this game at a high level, it helps to have a clear mind," Woods said before going out for his 11 a.m. pro-am time on the South Course. "I've played at the high levels before in the past without a clear mind, but it helps to be consistent. It helps having your life in balance. Certainly, my life is much more balanced than it was in the past. That's exciting for me. I think it's exciting for my kids, and we're really looking forward to it."

Woods said he's fresh going into a new season for the first time in about six years, although his two-month break was not pain-free. He had a cortisone shot in his right ankle two days after the Chevron World Challenge, which he said kept him out for a week.

Even so, there wasn't much else on his mind besides golf.

"It's nice to have an off-season where I wasn't in pain and recovering from something," Woods said. "I've had so many darn surgeries and everything. Granted, I had a cortisone shot, but I was fine in a week. I haven't had an off-season like this. It's always been trying to somehow, 'Can I get myself to start up again?' This was nice to actually practice and build."

Now it's time to evaluate his game. And there's no better place to measure the progress than Torrey Pines.

Woods won a Junior World Championship on the public course along the Pacific Bluffs, and he has won six regular PGA Tour events, including four straight starting in 2005. Perhaps his most famous victory was the U.S. Open in 2008, where he made a 12-foot birdie on the 72d hole to force a playoff with Rocco Mediate, and beat him in 19 holes the next day.

Not by coincidence, Woods will be playing with Mediate (along with Anthony Kim) the first two rounds. The PGA Tour this year is moving around some of the pairings to create story lines.

Mediate expects to see the Woods he did that day at Torrey.

"My opinion, if he gets it and starts driving his ball where he's looking, the game is over," Mediate said. "It doesn't matter who is there. Call it what you want. I've seen it. I've been around it. I've studied it. If you put him in the fairway, as good as he putts, as good as his short game is, good luck. If he can get the ball back on the fairway, Tiger will become Tiger again."

Where he goes from here remains to be seen.