Tiger Woods had a message on Tuesday for anyone speculating that knee surgery and a near nine-week layoff have left him less than ready for the US Open golf championship.

"I'm good to go," the world number one said on Tuesday. "Come game time Thursday, I'll be ready."

Woods has won six Buick Invitational titles at Torrey Pines, where the 108th US Open golf championship tees off on Thursday on a South course measuring 7643 yards and playing at par-71.

While June conditions, and the typical US Golf Association (USGA) set-up for an Open promise to make the course even tougher than the one players see in the January US PGA Tour event, Woods indicated that one thing he doesn't expect to be a factor is his knee.

"Is it fully recovered? Probably not," he said, admitting that he hadn't walked 18 holes on any course since his runner-up finish to Trevor Immelman at the Masters in April.

Shortly after that defeat, which ended his vaunted bid for a calendar Grand Slam before it even started, Woods had arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage in his knee.

Woods acknowledged that it wasn't until the week of the Memorial, where he had hoped to make his competitive return May 29-June 1, that he was sure he would be able to play the US Open.

"The week prior to Memorial, I was not feeling good enough where I was 100 percent sure I could play all four days," he said. "But then my leg started getting a lot better quickly, which was great. My lifting went way up. My endurance came back. All the different things started coming up."

Woods was cagey when asked if the state of his knee had required him to make any adjustments to his game.

He declined to describe in terms of percentage how fit he judged the knee to be, saying only "It's feeling better."

"It's a little sore, but not anything that I haven't dealt with before," Woods insisted, adding that that if anything the layoff had left him more keen to get going.

"Getting out there and getting into the flow and dealing with the adrenaline, dealing with the juices flying - I'm excited about it," he said. "I'm really excited about getting out there and feeling that."

The USPGA have done their best to insure an early adrenaline rush, pairing Woods with world number two Phil Mickelson and number three Adam Scott of Australia in the first two rounds.

Their group, which tees off at 8.06am (3.06pm GMT) on Thursday, promises to draw a massive gallery primed for fireworks.

Woods said his rehabilitation period had been tedious, but his daughter Sam, who was born a day after last year's US Open in June, had kept him entertained.

"Spending that much time off and away from training and trying to get better, Sam was absolutely incredible. I had so much fun doing that," he said. "It took my mind away from the fact that I had surgery done, just watching her grow, walking - running now - it's been just the greatest thing in the world."

And Woods reiterated that coming back from physical injury was far easier than his return to competition at the 2006 US Open in the wake of his father's death.

"Overcoming and getting out and playing and practicing, I didn't want to do that because I'd always think about Dad," Woods said of his experience in 2006, when he missed the cut at the Open.

"That was the hardest thing. Usually people go to work to get away from it, but to me it brought more feelings out when I came to work, so it was a little more difficult practicing and preparing.

"This is totally different. You can't compare the two mentally, they're two totally different places."

So sore knee or no, 13-time major champion Woods appeared poised to resume his assault on Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 major titles.

While Woods's resume includes just two US Open crowns - compared to four Masters Green Jackets, four US PGA Championships and three British Open titles - Woods said the US championship offered plenty off opportunity to gain on Nicklaus.

"I've come closer, I think, in more Opens," said Woods, who finished tied for third in 1999, second in 2005 and tied for second last year at Oakmont. "I've had a lot of high finishes in US Opens."

AFP