Tiger Woods is back, but what kind of player will he be now?

The 898th-ranked player in the world intends to hold up the trophy on Sunday.

It just so happens that player is Tiger Woods, the host and five-time champion of the Hero World Challenge.

“I’m entered in this event and I’m going to try and win. I know that’s a tall order,” Woods said Tuesday from Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas.

Woods, who will turn 41 at the end of December, is making his return to competitive golf on Thursday at the Hero World Challenge, with his first round of consequence in 466 days. The last time we saw him play, he faded to a tie for 10th at the Wyndham Championship in August 2015. It was his best finish of the season. However, weeks later, Woods learned pain he experienced that week was attributable to the same spot on his back where he had a microdiscectomy performed in March 2014. So, it was done again. A month later, another, otherwise-not-detailed follow-up procedure was done on Woods’ back.

It was at this tournament last year that Woods offered a bleak assessment of his future, saying that everything he did professionally from that point would be “gravy.” He had trouble getting out of bed without help. He had to lay down in the passenger seat of his car to get anywhere. Rumors mounted that Woods might never play golf again. Then, Woods posted a video of him hitting a single 9-iron into a simulator.

“Progressing nicely,” Woods tweeted with the video.

Progress was a relative term. While we’ve had glimpses of Woods at clinics, media days and course openings, the video has often been grainy and short. At times he has looked good, strong and capable. Others, like when he put three balls in the water from 102 yards at Quicken Loans National media day in May, he looked utterly lost.

Woods poured his energy into helping the United States team win the Ryder Cup, doing so as an energetic and efficient vice captain, said to be the chessmaster for the American dozen. That week spurred his competitive juices, Woods said Tuesday, but the experience at Hazeltine National cost him a week of practice.

He entered the PGA Tour’s season-opener, the Safeway Open in October, just ahead of the deadline, hoping to play. However, Woods had assessed his game, deeming it “vulnerable,” knowing that he would struggle to compete to his standard, and pulled out the Monday before the tournament began.

So, instead, he makes his return at this tournament, one that he owns and benefits his foundation, with a tiny 18-man field made up entirely of top-50 players. He joked he had to get the tournament “committee” to give him an exemption, as he’s not a top-50 player in the world right now. (NOTE: The “committee” being Tiger.) He’s guaranteed 72 holes, as this tournament has no cut. For better or worse, his game will be on full display with no safety net to bail him out if things go sideways. Woods does believe, however, that the hours of practice, toil and training since early October have prepared him to put his game on public display.

This week will offer some clues on where his game and his health are heading into 2017. Will we see glimpses of the 14-time major winner, the 79-time PGA Tour winner? Or will we see more of the guy who had the chipping yips and turned in career-worst scores in 2015?

We know things will be different. Woods has acknowledged as much, saying he’ll have to find different ways to compete and be relevant than the way he won for the first 18 years of his professional career. However, Woods is trying to hang on to some of what got him to the stature he enjoys in the game. He has a new TaylorMade driver and fairway wood and new Bridgestone Golf ball, but he’s using the same irons he did when he was last on Tour, and he brought back an old friend: the Scotty Cameron Newport 2 putter he used to win 13 of 14 majors.

Woods joked the putter is one of two – the other being the one he used to win the 1997 Masters – sacred clubs in his putting studio.

“The putters sit next to each other at home,” Woods said. He tells his son Charlie, “Touch any putter, do anything with any other putter. But these two are off limits. Daddy only.”

Woods talked repeatedly on Tuesday about this being the start of a new phase of his life. We’ll get to see what that looks like competitively starting Thursday.

“I want to do this as long as I can,” Woods said. “You can do it different ways. I’m not the second-longest guy on Tour anymore.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.