By Mark Lamport-Stokes
Dec 23 (Reuters) - With his 40th birthday just one week away, Tiger Woods looks optimistically forward to playing golf pain-free next year while he reflects on a 2015 campaign blighted by injuries, poor form and a plummeting world ranking.
The greatest player of his generation and arguably of all time, Woods has not won a tournament anywhere since the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and his title drought in the major championships dates back to the 2008 U.S. Open.
Woods, the world number one for a record total of 683 weeks who is now stunningly ranked 414th, said earlier this month that he was in the dark about the future of his playing career, asking himself: "Where is the light at the end of the tunnel?