Tiger acknowledges he's far from 'playing shape'

There's just one way to condition for tournament golf: compete in tournament golf.

After shooting a 2-under 70 in his third round Saturday, and settling into the middle of the pack at the Hero World Challenge, Tiger Woods indicated that the next hurdle in his recovery trail is reaching optimal playing shape.

"I'm not as fresh as I'd like to be. Rickie (Fowler) and I were talking about it. No matter how much you work out, it's very different than being in playing shape," Woods told ESPN.com.

"We try to simulate tournament golf, but nothing is quite the same as playing, (with) the waiting, and the grinding, and the wind, and getting the numbers right, and camera phones going off, and people moving, and the sounds. These are all different things you can't simulate at home.

"Because I've been away so long, and I haven't been able to condition myself physically."

Woods will put his body through 72 holes of live tournament competition for the first time in 15 months Sunday. He goes off at 11:31 a.m. ET in a twosome with Louis Oosthuizen.