Masters chairman Billy Payne has expressed his confidence that Tiger Woods will play again at Augusta.

Woods, a four-time Masters champion, has not played golf since last August and confirmed on Saturday that he would miss this week's tournament in Georgia.

However, he did attend last night's champions dinner and Payne was impressed with what he saw.

"You know, he's encouraged," Payne told reporters. "I could tell the fire is building back up in his belly and I suspect Tiger's going to be back fairly quickly, and I'm looking forward to it."

Woods's absence is down to a back injury on which he has needed three operations in the space of 19 months.