Tiger Woods says he played "quite well" after coming through nine holes unscathed at Medinah on the eve of the BMW Championship as he eyes an East Lake return.
The 15-time major champion withdrew from the Northern Trust last week after being troubled by a mild oblique strain during his first round.
Woods feels in better shape as he bids to move up from 38th on the FedExCup points list to inside the top 30, which would give him the opportunity to defend his Tour Championship title next week.
Asked about his condition, the Masters champion said: "Way better. It was nice to take those days off. I had to just let it calm down and get a bunch of treatment on it. I played nine today, the front nine and quite well.
"I took the back nine off, chipped and putted quite a bit and it definitely didn't feel like it did on Friday.
"Like I've said before, the forces have got to go somewhere. Unfortunately, when I'm making the kind of tweaks and changes to my swing, it's like a new body part is aching. I can't play around with the back like I used to, and things flare up.
"I've had to make tweaks all year trying to ease the stress of my back while still playing and unfortunately I haven't done a very good job of that and when I have, I've hit the ball quite well.
"I was really excited about what I was doing at Liberty [National], I made some nice changes and obviously I didn't feel very well on Thursday."
Woods is determined to ensure he does not miss out on the season-ending tournament in Atlanta, where he ended a five-year title drought 12 months ago .
"Trying to be explosive, have enough rest time and training time – that has been the biggest challenge," he added.
"This is no different. I am trying to win this tournament, just like anybody else in this field, and I'm trying to get to East Lake and get to the place where a lot of things changed for me last year - hopefully I can make that happen."
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