Tiger Woods declared himself ready to compete for a fifth Masters title after completing 11 holes of practice at Augusta National on Monday . Woods has started just two events in 2015 , shooting a career-worst score of 82 to miss the cut in the first of them and withdrawing through injury after just 11 holes of the second on February 5 . That led to the 14-time major winner taking a break from competition to work on his game , during which time he dropped outside the world 's top 100 for the first time since September 1996 , a slide which continued on Monday as he fell from 104th to 111th . Tiger Woods returned to action as he warmed up at Augusta National Golf Club ahead of The Masters . The 39-year-old is returning from a self-imposed break from golf to recover from injuries and a dip in form . Woods was given a warm welcome by the crowd and stopped to sign several autographs at Augusta . Woods has not won a major since the 2008 US Open and the last of his four Masters wins was a decade ago , with the 39-year-old only confirming on Friday that he would compete at Augusta . However , after showing no sign of the chipping 'yips ' which blighted his performance in Phoenix on the range , Woods produced some vintage shots as he completed the front nine alongside long-time friend Mark O'Meara before playing the 10th and 18th alone . ' I felt good . It was nice to get out here , ' said Woods , who was two under after four holes despite a wayward drive on the first and three-putting the par-five second for a par . 'Chipping is fine . I wanted to test out some wedges out here . That was why I was chipping a little bit more . It came down to a couple of different bounce settings because it 's different from Florida . We figured the right one out . 'It 's been a process . But I 'm on the good side now . It 's progression . I felt like I had to get my game into a spot where I could compete to win a golf tournament and it 's finally there . ' Woods has not won a major since the US Open in 2008 and will be looking to get back to his best . Woods stopped to chat to Europe 's Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke ( right ) at Augusta on Monday . O'Meara , who won the Masters and Open in 1998 , said : 'The thing about the kid is that you can never underestimate Tiger Woods . I 'm a huge fan , a friend and I care about him . 'It was good to be out there with him . I saw some good signs . His pitching looks a lot better . 'There 's a lot of pressure on him but there is no reason why he should not have a good week this week . 'There are not many people that have played the game of golf like he has . The game of golf is better because of Tiger Woods . 'He is in a good place and I think he is fired up about it . He will be nervous on Thursday but I think he will be fine . He hit a couple of shots that were a little off but a lot of quality shots . ' Earlier in the day , US Open champion Martin Kaymer said he still felt Woods was 'the man , ' but added : 'Who really knows what is going on in his head ? Woods looked confident and managed to pull off some impressive drives in front of the crowd . Woods hits a chip shot on to the green during the practice session ahead of the Masters 2015 . Woods smiles during the practice round prior to the tee off of the 2015 Masters on Thursday . ' I hope he 's happy . I hope he 's fine . I hope he will play well this week . But what would bother me a lot is all the speculation . You do n't have a choice ; you will read about it somewhere . You will hear about it because you socialise with people . 'So mentally it must be quite exhausting and we know how important the mental part is in golf . It 's difficult and some things I do n't find very fair . You know , you should just let him be . Let him play golf , what he likes to do . 'Sometimes I look at it and find it quite sad how people treat the whole subject . It should n't be like this in my opinion . But that 's how it is unfortunately . That is how a lot of people make their money and some athletes , they suffer because of that . 'Hopefully he 's strong enough , he has people to talk to , and he finds a way to compete as good as he can . Because we all know when he 's around , somehow it does make us play better , as well . ' I never experienced someone who played better than him . In my era , I never played with Seve ( Ballesteros ) and I never played with Arnold Palmer , Jack Nicklaus , those guys . So for me , what I have seen and what I have experienced , he 's the man . '
Tiger Woods has made his first public appearance for 2015 . He had been on hiatus to recover from injury and a dip in form . Woods warmed up at the Augusta course ahead of the 60 days Masters . The 39-year-old was given a warm welcome back by the crowd .