Is 85 percent of Tiger Woods enough to compete and win on the PGA Tour?

That is apparently what the golf world will find out sometime early in 2009, when Woods returns from the knee surgery he had in June. When the surgery took place, others who had similar surgeries talked about how long and frustrating the rehabilitation process was. Now Woods himself, in comments made during a press conference for his World Challenge tournament in Thousand Oaks in December, is saying some of the same things.

Woods said he's been told to expect his knee to be about 85 percent six months after the surgery. That would put Woods in January, when he says he will start hitting full shots again. An initial target date for Woods' return might be the Buick Invitational in San Diego, an event he's won six times and the site of his U.S. Open victory in June. That was the last tournament Woods played, so there would be a nice symmetry to him returning at Torrey Pines.

Players like Ernie Els and Brad Faxon suffered ACL injuries and took more than a year before they felt ready to play anything close to their old form. Will we see the same thing with Woods? Will he be a good player but something less than his superhuman self when he returns to the tour? Will his unequaled will to win be betrayed by all-too-human bones and muscles and ligaments?

There are other questions to be answered, such as whether Woods will have to make some changes to his powerful, torquing swing, which might have been one of the causes of the problems in his knee to begin with. Or how Woods will respond to the frustration of playing with less than 100 percent of his game for the first time.

But the biggest question is simple: if Woods comes back and plays well and wins at less than 100 percent, what does that mean for the rest of the tour? Woods is already so far inside some players' heads that it might not matter if he played at 50 percent. He could still beat those guys.

But with an emerging crop of younger players such as Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, Hunter Mahan and others already being touted as the generation that could go toe-to-toe with Woods, when and how Woods returns from major surgery is key to Woods, those young players and the PGA Tour itself. A non-competitive Woods would hurt the tour and its already sagging television ratings but open the door for the rest of the players. A dominant Woods, even at less than 100 percent, could hurt those younger players.

What no one, not even Woods knows yet, is how he'll play at 85 percent and when or even if he'll ever get back to 100 percent. That will be the real question of 2009 and even of 2010 on the PGA Tour.

Larry Bohannan covers golf for The Desert Sun. His columns appear Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at 778-4633.