Tiger Woods steps onto a smaller stage at Frys.com Open

Reporting from San Martin, Calif. — The way the past two years have gone, Tiger Woods now appears to be taking the resurrection of his golf career one step at a time.

Literally.

“First of all,” he says, “I’m able to walk the golf course.”

And that, alone, offers some hope for his chances at the Frys.com Open, which begins Thursday at CordeValle in Northern California.

Woods used to skip right past late-season tournaments such as this one, but he has played all of 61/2 rounds since the Masters last April. Every time he has tried to get started, injuries have sat him back down.

So when Presidents Cup captain Fred Couples named him to the team with a wild-card pick, the former No. 1 golfer agreed to play a warmup before heading down to Australia in November. Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Woods said his knee and Achilles’ tendon are feeling healthier than they have in years.

“I’ve got my strength back,” he said. “I’ve got the explosiveness back in the leg.”

Patrick Cantlay, the UCLA star and top-ranked amateur in the world, is one of the few people who have seen Woods’ game up-close in recent months. They played a practice round earlier in the week and Cantlay came away impressed.

“He chipped and putted real well,” Cantlay said. “I’m sure he’s different in practice rounds than he is in a regular tournament, just like anybody else, but he looked good to me.”

There have been other promising signs. Woods shot one of the best rounds from Wednesday’s pro-am at CordeValle, just hours after announcing a new deal with Rolex, his first major endorsement since the scandal that sent him into a downward spiral two years ago. But the climb back remains long and decidedly uphill.

Woods has not won since 2009. His 14 majors championships have faded into memory since the late-night car accident and subsequent revelations of infidelity.

This year, he played poorly at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, withdrew with an injury from the Players Championship and missed the cut at the PGA Championship. That left him out of the recent FedEx Cup playoffs, which might have been a blessing in disguise.

A suddenly open calendar gave Woods a chance to hang around home in Florida, playing 36 or more holes a day, looking to regain the sharpness that had eroded with his on-again, off-again schedule. His coach, Sean Foley, stopped by to continue work on a swing change that Woods said is coming into focus.

“We’re always fine-tuning the game, but the major overhauls are done,” he said. “I’ve done all that work.”

Last week, he shot a record 62 during a practice round at the Medalist Golf Club, his current home course. “To be honest with you, it was pretty easy,” he said. He sounded just as upbeat about a new partnership with caddie Joe LaCava, who previously worked for Couples and Dustin Johnson.

All of this has generated a fair amount of hype around the Frys.com Open, which also features defending champion Rocco Mediate and Ernie Els.

“They’ve sold more tickets, there are more people coming,” Mediate said. “There’s a difference wherever Tiger is.”

Woods, who will be paired with Cantlay and Louis Oosthuizen in the first round, knows only one thing is missing.

“I’ve kind of done all that legwork,” he said. “And now it’s time to play.”

david.wharton@latimes.com

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