Tiger Woods’ agent expects a summer return for Woods

While the PGA Tour continues to roll on with golf tournaments and new champions, a lot of the focus still sits with a man that is recovering from a back surgery.

Tiger Woods, the No. 1 player in the world, missed the Masters because of a surgery on a pinched nerve in his back, but his agent, Mark Steinberg, believes we could see Tiger return as early as the summer.

Steinberg talked with ESPN’s Bob Harig this week and said that Woods has already started some chipping and putting, and he expects a return to the PGA Tour by this summer.

“He’s doing a little bit more and more each day,” Steinberg told ESPN.com. “He’s getting to the point of light chipping and putting and the doctors and trainers seem to be pleased with where he is. He is on schedule but we don’t know what that schedule means. I don’t know when he intends to be playing competitively.

“But I expect it to be this summer. I know that’s a wide range, but as the weeks go by we’ll be able to pinpoint an approximate time. It’s still a little early for that. Nothing that has gone on from the day of the surgery until today gives me any pause to amend what I said then. I know that’s broad and vague but we can’t pinpoint a specific time until we’re further along.”

[Photos: Elin Nordegren and Lindsey Vonn’s identical style]

I’ve said from the start that I think Woods will return before the British Open, but I don’t see him making the trip to Pinehurst for the U.S. Open in June. The British is the tournament that Woods has to be circling on his calendar, as the return date makes a lot of sense and the event is being played on a golf course that Woods dominated the last time the Open Championship was held there.

Still, the news that Woods will hopefully be back by summer has to have the golf world excited. While plenty of stuff has gone on since Tiger announced he would be missing significant time with the surgery, it will be nice to have Woods back to give golf that bump it needs over the next three major championships.

[Photos: Tiger Woods and his children through the years]

Also, a summer return means there is a lot better chance that Woods would be in good enough form to possibly play in the Ryder Cup, as he sits well outside the top-10 in points and will need some tournaments to either jump up the rankings or show captain Tom Watson that he is in form good enough to compete at this event.

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