Tiger Woods admitted he does not know what to expect when he makes his first official start on the PGA Tour for a year in the Farmers Insurance Open.

Woods has won eight times at Torrey Pines, including his last major in the 2008 US Open, but missed the cut in this event 12 months ago. He withdrew after an opening 77 in the following week’s Dubai Desert Classic and sat out the rest of the year until returning from spinal fusion surgery with a tie for ninth in December’s 18-man Hero World Challenge.

“It’s all finished now, it’s fused and my quality of life is infinitely better than it was at this point last year,” Woods told a press conference.

“I’ve got to start somewhere. I’ve got to get my game back. It’s been a long time, a full year since I’ve played on the tour.

“I want to hit shots and grind out scores. I’ve been looking forward to it. I’ve missed going out with my buddies having some fun playing golf. I miss those days. Pre-round it’s the same warm-up, go in the gym and work out in the morning, come out here and go with the same warm-up routine I’ve had for the best part of 30 years.

“But my expectations have been tempered this week. I just want to get into the rhythm of playing a schedule again. I don’t know what to expect. As far as saying what it takes to win, I don’t know - and there are a lot of names I haven’t played with. We’ll see.”

Sergio García, who has endured a turbulent relationship with Woods for years, has suggested people should think twice before making bold claims about the 14-times major champion’s return to the competitive fold. García believes there is a “big question mark” over whether Woods can cope once more with tournament golf.

“It’s going to be interesting to see,” the Masters champion said. “I mean, I don’t know, but in my opinion it’s a big question mark to see how he’s going to be able to do physically. I think that he looked pretty good at the Hero Challenge. But he has looked good at the Hero Challenge [in previous years] and then he hasn’t lasted too long.

“So hopefully he’s able to get in a bit of a rhythm when it comes down to playing tournaments. But nobody knows. I think I can say that probably he doesn’t even know how his back and his body is going to cope with everything that goes on with playing tournaments and practising and everything that comes with it. So we’ll see.”

García did, however, endorse the wider benefit of a fit and functioning Woods. “He’s done so much for the game,” the Spaniard said. “If he’s not there, will the game of golf fall apart? I don’t think so. But like I always say, the more sugar, the sweeter. So the more big-time players we have on tour, the better it is for the game globally and he’s obviously one of those.”