Tiger Woods addresses back, medicine, sleep issues

Tiger Woods said on Tuesday that he was attempting to "go away from the pain" when he was charged with driving under the influence six months ago.

Speaking before his latest comeback bid ahead of Thursday's first round of the Hero World Challenge, Woods discussed the events that left him asleep at the wheel of his running Mercedes-Benz at 2 a.m. on May 29.

While breathalyzer tests showed no presence of alcohol, a toxicology report later revealed that Woods had Vicodin, Dilaudid, Xanax, Ambien and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) in his system. The 41-year-old Woods entered a program a month later to help him manage back pain, his medications and a sleep disorder.

"I was trying to go away from the pain and I was trying to sleep, which I hadn't done in a very long time because of the things I've been dealing with," Woods said Tuesday at Albany Golf Course in Nassau, Bahamas.

"I've come out the other side and I feel fantastic. I didn't realize how bad my back was. Now that I'm feeling the way I'm feeling, it's just hard to imagine that I was living the way I was living, with my foot not working, my leg not working, and then the hours of not being able to sleep at all because of the pain.

"So as my back improved, I've been able to start sleeping again because I don't have the nerve pain going down my leg, I don't have my leg twitching all over the place. So yeah, I'm loving live now."

The 14-time major champion hasn't competed professionally since withdrawing after the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic in February due to a back injury. Woods underwent a fourth back surgery on April 19.

"This surgery was about quality of life because I didn't really have much," Woods said. "I've been in bed for about two years and hadn't been able to do much. People ask me, why don't you go out to dinner? I can't, I can't sit. So to be able to have the ability to go out and do things like that, and on top of that to be able to participate in my kids' sports again.

"As you know, I love sports, I like playing sports and I grew up doing it, so to be able to play with them again, man, I've missed it."