The world No.1 hasn't played a competitive round since his runner-up finish to South African Trevor Immelman at Augusta, after which he had arthroscopic surgery on his troublesome knee.
Despite the difficulties of making his return at a major championship, Woods said he's eager to get back in the swing.
"I miss mixing it up with the boys," he said two weeks before the Open, shortly after deciding he wasn't quite ready to take on a tune-up at the Memorial.
"I miss the heat of being in there, in contention with everything on the line, trying to pull off a shot."
The US Open, designed by the US Golf Association (USGA) to be "the most rigorous, yet fair, examination of golf skills" in major golf, certainly should provide some heat.
Woods has had plenty of success on the first-time host course, Torrey Pines South, but the par-71, 7,643 lay-out will no doubt be showing more teeth in sunny, breezy June than it does in January for the PGA Tour's Buick Invitational - which Woods as won six times.
In addition there's the knee, which still had Woods limping slightly when he turned out for media for his National tournament in Washington in late May.
Woods played a practice round at Torrey Pines on Wednesday - getting a sneak peek before the tournament week begins on Monday.
Woods said his lengthy absence from competition wasn't the best preparation, nor did it doom his chances.
"It wold be nice having a feel going into any tournament, really," he said. "Kind of an understanding about what the misses might be.
"But you don't really know until you get under tournament heat what your misses are going to be. Hopefully I can rectify them if that happens."
Woods has said this lay-off has left him better prepared than his 2006 break from golf to be with his dying father. That year he returned at the US Open and missed the cut at Winged Foot.
This time, it's just a matter of being as well prepared physically as he can be. In any case, he said, he knew even before the Masters that the procedure had to be done because the discomfort was hindering him off the course as well as on.
"It was not fun," said Woods, who had damaged cartilage repaired. "Daily basis living just wasn't fun. I needed to have it."
The procedure marked the third time Woods has had surgery on the knee. The first surgery was 14 years ago when he had a benign tumour and the second in December, 2002 when doctors performed the first arthroscopic surgery.
"I know what it takes to win a tournament coming back after having a procedure done, and it is just a matter of being prepared," said Woods, whose 13 major titles include two US Opens.
Despite his voracious appetite for major championship success, he says he doesn't feel a particular sense of urgency in his quest to surpass the record 18 major titles won by Jack Nicklaus.
"I knew that would take an entire career," he said. "That was my mind-set going into it. It hasn't changed."
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