Tiger Woods admitted he was "blown away" by the reception he received at Augusta National as the World Number One prepares for his return to golf at the Masters Tournament.
The American 14 time Major winner, who already has four Masters titles to his name, has been absent since his JBWere Masters win in November last year.
But he returns this week at the tournament where he burst onto the scene in 1997 with his record winning total of 18 under par - a score that saw him win by an incredible 12 strokes.
"Coming into today, I didn't know what to expect with regards to the reception, and I tell you what, the galleries couldn't be nicer," said Woods.
"I mean, it was just incredible. The encouragement that I got, it blew me away to be honest with you, it really did.
"The people here over the years, I know they are extremely respectful, but today was just something that really touched my heart pretty good."
Woods - who previously missed much of the 2008 season with a knee injury - sees no reason why his return should not be a winning one.
When he came back to competitive action at the start of 2009 it took Woods just three tournaments to record his first win.
But the 34 year old is aiming to surpass that by landing his 15th Major, and closing in on Jack Nicklaus' 18 Major wins in the process.
"Nothing's changed, I'm going to go out there and try to win this thing," he said with a smile.
"I'm here at the Masters to play and compete, and just really excited about doing that.
"I missed the competition. I missed seeing the guys out here. A lot of my friends, I haven't seen in a while. So it's been just an incredible experience so far here at the Masters."
And Woods believes that five months without competitive golf has given his knee further chance to heal from the torn ligament and double tibia fracture that he overcame to beat Rocco Mediate in the 2008 US Open Championship play-off.
"You know, my knee feels great," he added. "The only time it doesn't feel good is when a front comes through - that's when most people realize it, arthritis in there when you get a little older. But other than that, it feels great. It's strong, it's explosive again, which is great, and now my Achilles is good so I'm training like I used to years ago."
