David Duval says Woods must regain health, confidence to be 'firing on all cylinders'

Recounting his personal experience that how difficult it is to play hurt and without confidence, former golf number one David Duval has said that American golf ace Tiger Woods must regain his health and confidence to be firing on all cylinders.

Duval, in his new role as a Golf Channel analyst, would be among those closely following the progress of the 14-times major champion who would make his season debut at next week's Waste Management Phoenix Open after an injury-hit 2014.

Duval, the 2001 British Open champion whose career was shortened by a bad back, believes that it is hard to overestimate the toll that a loss of confidence can take on a golfer, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Duval said that through everything he went through he realized the most important thing to protect as a golfer is ones confidence and arrogance, for want of a better word. He added that one needs to have 100 percent belief in what one is doing and think that they are bulletproof out there.

Woods, who was limited to nine tournaments last year due to back issues that required surgery in late March, has not won a major since 2008 and would have to buck history if he is to match or better Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 major titles.

Duval said that last year was a lost year basically that was detrimental to Woods' health, detrimental to his swing, and detrimental to confidence. He added that one cannot play hurt.

He claimed that he attributes a lot of the problems he had to injury and having gone through some of this stuff himself, he believes Woods is looking at being healthy more than anything and after that looking to regain some form he's had in the past.

Duval claimed that it takes a little time to put all those pieces back together, adding that it is a high hurdle to get over but it wouldn't' surprise him to see the American firing on all cylinders come March, April.