Tiger Woods plays first stretch of holes since August

Tiger Woods played his first stretch of holes since last August at the opening of a course he helped design.

The former world number one hit a ceremonial tee shot then played a few holes with his friend Mark O'Meara at Bluejack National in Texas.

The 40-year-old had two back operations last autumn but has registered for the US Open in June, suggesting a return may be imminent.

"We're just trying to progress - and I'm doing that," he said.

The American last competed at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina, after which he had surgery to remove a small disc fragment that was pinching a nerve.

His world ranking has fallen to 499 and earlier this month he missed the Masters for only the second time since his tournament debut in 1995.

Videos of the 14-time major champion hitting balls in practice have appeared in the past few weeks and Monday's short round demonstrated further progress with his rehabilitation.

"This is actually the first time I've played holes since Wyndham," he added.

"You saw how I was going at it today, nice and smooth. That's harder than I have been going at it the last month. Just gradually progressing."

The Golf Channel said Woods could compete at the Wells Fargo Championship, external early next month, but his team maintain there is no planned return date.

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