Tiger Woods wishes he could have taken on Seve Ballesteros in his prime, but he did at least get to play with him.

Returning to golf this week for the first time since The Masters - knee and Achilles problems prevented him hitting a single shot for almost a month - Woods has recalled the practice round he had with Ballesteros at Augusta some years ago.

"Just to hear him explain how to hit shots around there - it was just artful," said the former world number one of the Spaniard, whose funeral took place yesterday.

"Just how much spin you need to put it here and where you need to land it, where it needs to kick and the way he explained it.

"And what he needs to do with the body to do that with the hands. He looked like he didn't try and do anything mechanical - he just understood it.

"He would have been so much fun to watch and compete against."

With 14 major titles, Woods has nine more than Ballesteros achieved in his career, but the talk now, of course, is of a barren run in all tournaments that stretches back 18 months.

It looked as if it might come to a dramatic end at The Masters when he charged into a share of the lead on the final day, but three-putting the 12th and missing a short eagle chance at the 15th led to him finishing joint fourth.

Then, however, he revealed that he needed to take more time off because of injury.

Woods began practising again only on Monday and expectations do not appear to be too high for this week's Players Championship - the same one he pulled out of on the final day last year because of neck trouble.

"The knee is better, no doubt. The Achilles is better as well, so I'm here playing," he commented.

"It is what it is. The whole idea is that I peak four times a year and I'm trying to get ready for Congressional (the US Open on June 16-19) and I need some playing time.

"I missed playing last week, but I really want to get out there. This is a big event."

Indeed it is with a total purse of £5.8m making it the richest in golf, but although it has long carried the tag of the sport's unofficial fifth major, world number one Lee Westwood and sixth-ranked Rory McIlroy have not seen the need to compete at Sawgrass this year.