NASSAU, Bahamas — Tiger Woods says he is on the "other side" of too many years relying on pain medication to cope with his back surgeries, which led to his arrest on a DUI charge six months ago that he attributed to a bad mix of prescription drugs.

"I'm loving life now," he said Tuesday.

Woods is making yet another return to competition this week at the Hero World Challenge, an 18-man event with no cut at Albany Golf Club. It's his first tournament in 10 months and his first time competing since fusion surgery in April, the fourth operation on his back.

Early indications are that Woods is in a much better spot than when he returned a year ago in the Bahamas. According to those who played with him in recent weeks, his swing looks faster and more fluid, and Woods appears to be happy and healthy.

MORE: Tee times, pairings for the Hero World Challenge | Photos from Albany

Woods reached a low point on Memorial Day when he was arrested in the middle of the night after Florida police found his car parked awkwardly on the side of the road about 15 miles from his home, with Woods asleep behind the wheel, the engine running and a blinker on.

Toxicology reports revealed that Woods had two painkillers (Vicodin and Dilaudid), a sleep drug (Ambien), an anti-anxiety drug (Xanax) and the active ingredient for marijuana in his system. He went through an in-patient treatment program to deal with prescription medication, and last month pleaded guilty to a reckless driving charge that allowed him to avoid jail time.

"I've come out the other side and I feel fantastic," Woods said. "A lot of friends have helped me. 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."

Woods attributed the Memorial Day arrest to "trying to go away from the pain."

"I was trying to sleep, which I hadn't done in a very long time because of the things I've been dealing with," he said. "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. I don't have these issues anymore."

Woods hasn't won since the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational, his 79th title on the PGA Tour that leaves him three short of tying Sam Snead's record. That might have been the last time he had reasonable health.

There were small signs of back pain a week later at the PGA Championship, and what followed were three surgeries and a stop-and-start schedule. Woods had his first back surgery, a microdiscectomy, a week before the 2014 Masters. Since then, there have been four occasions where he returned either from back surgery or from taking time off to let his injuries heal.

The fourth surgery was to fuse two discs in his lower back. That was more about the quality of life than trying to win a golf tournament. The fact that Woods is even playing his holiday exhibition just over seven months after surgery, and six months after that embarrassing arrest, feels like a bonus.

MORE: Photos of Tiger Woods throughout the years

"I missed playing golf for fun," Woods said. "I hadn't done that in two years. I played nine holes here and 18 holes here, and then I have to take three days off because my back was killing me."

Woods returned from a 15-month layoff a year ago at the Hero World Challenge, and while he finished 15th in the 18-man field, he made 24 birdies, raising hopes. He never spoke of being in pain last year, or even at Torrey Pines in January. He then flew to Dubai and withdrew after a 77, citing back spasms.

The difference this time, Woods said, is that he doesn't feel pain, and he thinks now he can take on any shot. He said when he looks back on his performance last year in the Bahamas, it seems as though he were in slow motion.

"I didn't realize how bad my back had become and how much I was flinching and just how slow I was," he said. "I didn't realize it because it's been a slow, degrading process. I thought I had some speed, thought I was playing halfway decent, shot some good scores, but now I've looked back on it and man, I didn't even have much at all."

He's not sure what he has now.

The tournament starts Thursday. It will be the first time since Feb. 3 in Dubai that Woods has to count every shot.

"I'm just looking forward to getting through these four rounds and having an understanding — a better understanding — of where I'm at," he said.

This article was written by Doug Ferguson from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.

Clemson has sent a lot of amateurs to the Masters Tournament, but few might be as cool as Doc Redman under pressure.

The rising sophomore for the Tigers won the U.S. Amateur on Sunday at hallowed Riviera in the most dramatic of fashion, rallying from two holes down with two to play with a 50-foot eagle on 17 and birdie at 18 before winning with another conceded birdie on the first extra hole.

"It's the greatest match that I've witnessed," said U.S. Walker Cup team captain Spider Miller.

It was a pretty impressive finish for a 19-year-old who only made it into the match play as the No. 62 seed after getting through a 13-man playoff for the last eight spots. Instead of stressing out about his 91st-place standing when he finished his second round of the stroke-play qualifiers at Riviera and Bel-Air, he took off for the beach in Malibu and went to a Dodgers game before finding out his standing had improved to T57 to get in the playoff the next morning.

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"I didn't think I was going to make it and I didn't want to stress out about it that afternoon so I decided to unplug from my phone and go have a good time," he said. "I was very happy to kind of be given another shot to move on and a chance to reset from the first two days which were pretty disappointing. I felt very confident at that point that I could get through the playoff and win some matches."

The Raleigh, N.C., native epitomized California cool all week. In his five matches leading up to the 36-hole final, he won three of them on the 18th green. At one stretch of the taut championship match against Doug Ghim, he sank 12 consecutive putts.

"I trusted in myself a lot coming down the stretch that I had the game to pull it out and if it was meant to be it was meant to be," he said. "There's no point, in my eyes, in putting more pressure on yourself than necessary."

That trait and his putting prowess should come in handy next April when shows up for the Masters. Even though Augusta National traditionally invites both the winner and runner-up from the U.S. Amateur, he's not getting ahead of himself until he receives his engraved invitation at the end of the year.

"Words are hard to describe how excited I am," Redman said. "I'm not taking it for granted yet. I'm going to wait 'til the invitation comes and hope that it does. If they invite me, I'll be very honored."

Redman will become the 13th former Clemson golfer to compete in the Masters — the seventh to qualify as an amateur. He joins Chris Patton as the only Tigers to win the U.S. Amateur. Patton's victory in 1989 at Merion was long enough ago that his son, Colby, will join Redman at Clemson this season as a freshman teammate.

Three other Clemson golfers made it to Augusta by reaching the finals of the U.S. Amateur — Parker Moore (1976), Danny Ellis (1993) and Ben Martin (2009). Former Tigers Michael Hoey (2001 British Amateur) and Corbin Mills (2011 U.S. Public Links) qualified for the Masters by winning other amateur events.

Martin, from Greenwood, S.C., is the only one to return to the Masters as a professional. Patton was the only Tiger amateur to make the cut, finishing tied for 39th in 1990 to earn the silver medal for low amateur.

"I'd really just like to go, play my game and hopefully play well," Redman said. "I'd really like to be the low amateur. I'll try and do my best, whether that's missing the cut or finishing top 10, we'll see."

Redman did get to play Augusta National earlier this year with his Clemson golf team, shooting a 69. But he's never been to the Masters or any other professional golf tournament.

But he's familiar enough with the Augusta area. He tied for 10th and fifth in his two appearances in 2015-16 at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley and was runner-up last summer in the Palmetto Amateur.

His game hit another gear when he arrived at Clemson last fall. He started every tournament as a true freshman, winning twice and having his score count in all 39 rounds he played. His 70.77 scoring average was the best for a freshman in Clemson history and second only to D.J. Trahan's 70.33 all-time.

"I knew that I was a good player but I never set specific goals of wins or finishes," he said. "I just wanted to get better every day and see where that took me."

Over the summer, his game built toward his U.S. Amateur win. He never missed a cut on the elite amateur circuit and was runner-up in the prestigious Western Amateur that also went extra holes.

"I think I've showed great consistency this summer," he said.

His U.S. Amateur victory not only earned Redman the usual invitations into the Masters and U.S. Open in 2018, it guaranteed him a spot on the 10-man U.S. Walker Cup team — the first Tiger to make the squad since Kyle Stanley in 2007. Redman will return to Los Angeles for the matches against Great Britain &Ireland on Sept. 9-10 and L.A. Country Club.

"I beat some of the best players in the world, and I hope that this can catapult me up into that conversation as well going forward," Redman said.