by Fatiha Betscher, Bahamas.

Former long-time World No. 1 Tiger Woods painted a very bleak picture and not knowing when he will or when he hosted a press conference here in the Bahamas ahead of this week’s 2015 Hero World Challenge.

Woods is host of the limited field event but looked clearly to be in some pain following two back surgeries in a span of 18 months and revealing he underwent another  “procedure” in the same area of his back last month.

However Woods said he is yet to start any rehabilitation work and does not know when his back will allow for that.

“The hardest part for me is there’s really nothing I can look forward to, nothing I can build toward,” said Woods said.

“It’s just taking it literally just day by day and week by week and time by time.”

He has not teed up in a Tour event since August 23rd and in a very first appearance at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., where it was like ‘Tigermania’ all over again in attracting record crowds.   In fact, Woods went into the final round two shots behind before finishing an impressive T10th

Tiger Woods paint bleak picture when he will return to competition.

He didn’t realize that would be his last event of the year and last tournament for longer than he knows.

“Was it a surprise? Yeah,” Woods said. “Because as I was alluding to that week and subsequent weeks, I felt my hip was killing me and I didn’t think it was coming from my back. We worked out in the trailer each and every day and just tried to loosen up my hip. And OK, fine, we went out and played. But I didn’t feel any back discomfort.

“Come to find out it wasn’t my hip, it was coming from my back.”

He had another microdiscectomy Sept. 16 and then he revealed Oct. 30 another “procedure,” which he said was in the same spot. Asked the degree to which he can function, Woods said, “I walk. I walk and I walk some more.”

Woods, who has spent 683 weeks at No. 1 in the world ranking, is now at No. 400, his lowest as a professional. He has not won since the Bridgestone Invitational in 2013, when he was the PGA Tour player of the year.

And now he can’t even begin to imagine when he might play again.

“I have no answer for that, and neither does my surgeon or my physios,” he said. “There is no timetable.”

Woods said this was different from his four knee surgeries, even the worst one in 2008 after he won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines for his 14th major. He had a reconstruction of his left knee and was told it would be about nine months before he could get back. Woods returned eight months later and won in his third start.

“For nerves, there are really no timetables and therein lies the tricky part of it because you can come back earlier or you can come back later. It just depends on how the nerve heals and how it settles,” he said.

Would he be surprised if he was nothing more than a host at the Hero World Challenge a year from now? He couldn’t answer it.

“So where is the light at the end of the tunnel? I don’t know, so that’s been hard,” Woods said. “I had to reset the clock each and every day and OK, here we go. This is a new day and this is taken for what it is. I listen to my surgeon. I listen to my physios and we just take it day by day. Hopefully, the day-by-day adds up to something positive here soon.”

He agreed to be a vice captain under Davis Love III at the Ryder Cup next year, though Woods still wants to play in the matches. He says it has been two months since he hit a golf ball — “a chip shot left handed” — and that he passes most his time playing video games.

Woods said he wants to play again and that anything he accomplishes the rest of his career “will be gravy.”

But he sounded at peace with what he already has done — 79 career victories on the PGA Tour (second only to the 82 by Sam Snead), 14 majors (second to 18 by Jack Nicklaus), PGA Tour player of the year a record 11 times.

“I’ve had a pretty good career for my 20s and 30s,” he said. “For my 20 years out here, I think I’ve achieved a lot, and if that’s all it entails, then I’ve had a pretty good run. But I’m hoping that’s not it. I’m hoping that I can get back out here and compete against these guys. I really do miss it.”

The first step? Getting healthy enough to play soccer with his two children.

“If I can get to that, then we can start talking about golf,” he said. “But let me get to where I can pass the time and really be a part of my kids’ life in the way that I want to be part of it physically, not just as a cheerleader.”