Nearly a full year after the crash that almost cost him his right leg, a timeline for Tiger Woods’ return to competitive golf remains murky. He will not play in the Masters in early April at the notoriously hilly Augusta National, said Dr. David Chao, an orthopedic surgeon who has operated on PGA players and served as a tournament medical director for past PGA tour events.The entire golf world is eager to see Woods return to action, but there is a lot working against the 15-time major champion.The biggest challenge facing Woods at the moment is being able to walk the course for a full four-day tournament.Woods himself said on Wednesday he doesn’t know when he’ll be ready to walk a full course, as he is still working on strength and development in his injured right foot.It was great seeing him play with his son Charlie at the PNC Championship last December. Woods hit some classic Tiger shots and the duo finished second in the 36-hole casual best ball tournament.However, he used a cart to get around and did still walk with a noticeable limp.At a news conference Wednesday, the 46-year-old also said he hasn’t been able to practice his full array of shots.“My golf activity has been very limited. I can chip and putt really well. And hit short irons very well. But I haven't hit any long stuff seriously, Woods said.Given the timeline of his recovery, that is not an indication that he is progressing slower than expected, Chao said. Hitting driver requires the most weight transfer of any golf shot, especially to get the torque necessary to compete at the PGA level.Although everyone in the sports world is eager to see Woods return to competitive action, including us at Sports Injury Central, his recovery will be a patient process.Woods’ lengthy injury history also includes five back surgeries, the most recent in January last year. His fourth back surgery was a spinal fusion in April 2017. Woods returned from that in late November and captured his fifth career Masters tournament win in April 2019.The iconic golfer is just three major victories shy of Jack Nicklaus’ all-time major wins record, but perhaps the focus should just be on Woods enjoying golf again rather than competing.Woods is serving as tournament host at the Genesis Invitational tournament this weekend and said on the broadcast he plans on returning to the PGA tour at some point.For now it is just great to see Woods able to talk about what the next steps are, no matter how slow they come.