Tiger Woods hasn't even played 18 holes yet on recovering knee with U.S. Open 10 days away

In one of his rare media appearances - probably his last media appearance before he arrives at Torrey Pines for next week’s U.S. Open - Tiger Woods revealed moments ago that he hasn’t even played one full round of golf since he went out for knee surgery after the Masters.

“I have been around 18 holes for an outing,” Woods said in a conference call to promote the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills in August, which even he surely isn’t thinking about just yet. “But I haven’t played 18 holes yet.”

Ten days till the first round of the Open begins and Tiger isn’t even up to 18 holes yet? It’s surely going to place some doubt around an Open that would have been looked at as a no-brainer Woods romp (more than rightly so) if he had played since the Masters. Of course, this is Tiger Woods. He could merely be playing possum. He is good friends with Michael Jordan, who built up his legend with that mythical “flu game” in Utah (Jordan gets the sniffles and he’s suddenly eligible for the Purple Heart).

A knee’s not the flu though. It turns out Woods’ surgery might be one of the best things that has happened to golf. It’s bringing a lot more drama to Torrey Pines already.

Tiger did reveal today that he’s no longer in a lot of pain. “Pain is not really an issue as it was early on,” he said. “… It’s a matter of twisting and torquing on the knee, of hitting ball after ball after ball and making sure my endurance is up for the U.S. Open.”

Woods wasn’t going to declare himself 100 percent and seemed to downright dismiss the idea that he has to be 100 percent to win.

“I feel like I’m getting there,” he said. “I feel like I’m getting the leg stronger. Hopefully, I’ll be close to 100 percent. If not, no big deal. It’s more about getting into the competitive flow a lot faster than I did a few years ago at Winged Foot.”

For a complete story on Tiger and the U.S. Open, which is already all anyone is talking about in golf, stay tuned to the front of WorldGolf.com tomorrow morning. You’ll get live coverage from Torrey Pines there next week too.