By Leonard Shapiro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 9, 2008

AUGUSTA, Ga., April 8 -- Early in the 2008 season, Tiger Woods minced few words when he wrote on his Web site that a Grand Slam -- winning all four major golf championships in a single season -- was "easily within reach."

Two days before the first round of the 72nd Masters, Woods was not about to back off that bold statement during his 30-minute news conference Tuesday morning at Augusta National Golf Club. Asked if anything has happened so far this year to dissuade him from that opinion, the short answer was an almost matter-of-fact "no." And then he elaborated.

"The reason why I said that, you have to understand why I said that, because I've won all four [majors] in a row," Woods said. "The majority of my career, this is my 12th or 13th season out here, and nine of those years I've won five or more tournaments, so you've just got to win the right four. That's what it boils down to."

Woods, 32, won an unprecedented four straight major championships in a stunning run that began with a 15-shot victory in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, followed by an eight-shot win at the British Open at St. Andrews, and a sudden-death victory over Bob May in the PGA Championship at Valhalla. The next spring, he had a two-shot victory at the Masters, but the major streak ended when he tied for 12th in the 2001 U.S. Open at Southern Hills, the same venue where he won the PGA Championship last August for his 13th major title.

Woods often has said he's a far more complete player now, with more shots, more confidence, more experience and even more motivation to shatter all the records in the professional game. He's five victories short of Jack Nicklaus's career record of 18 major victories, and with 64 PGA Tour titles, needs 19 more to surpass Sam Snead's record 82.

"Everybody likes to compare what Tiger is doing now to 2000, which is ridiculous," Butch Harmon, Woods's former coach, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel last month. "He is eight years older. He is eight years smarter. He is eight years wiser. I think he's a much better player now than he was in 2000. He has more shots. I just think it's phenomenal what he's doing. As a fan of golf, it's fun watching."

Said defending Masters champion Zach Johnson: "He says he can get better, which is absolutely scary. I mean, I know I can. It makes you want to work harder. He's a freak, in a good way."

This season, Woods won the first four tournaments he played until putting woes over five rain-delayed days at Doral in Miami last month resulted in a fifth-place finish at the CA Championship, halting his run of five straight PGA Tour victories.

In Las Vegas, Woods is now even money to win his fifth Masters this week, and at the British bookmaking shops, he's hardly even considered a long shot, at 8 to 1 odds, to conquer the Grand Slam.

Never mind that the feat has never been accomplished in the current configuration of the modern majors. Bobby Jones, one of the founders of Augusta National, won the 1930 version of the Slam, winning the U.S. and British opens and the U.S. and British amateurs. As an amateur, he was not eligible for the PGA Championship, then and now open only to professional golfers.

"You can't compare era to era, but what Tiger's doing is a joke," Fred Funk said earlier this season. "He doesn't beat himself, and who's going to beat him?"

This week, 92 players will try to do just that, and all of them know full well Woods is the man to catch in an event he has won four of the 11 times he's entered as a professional, including a record-breaking 12-shot victory in 1997 that also set the 72-hole scoring mark of 18-under 270.

"When the spotlight is blazing, he separates himself," Arnold Palmer, a four-time Masters champion himself, said during his invitational tournament at Bay Hill last month, when Woods knocked in a 24-foot putt at the 72nd hole to win by a shot over Sean O'Hair. "He handles the chaos. Nicklaus was like that. When the heat started coming, Jack handled everything [while] others couldn't survive. Tiger's doing that."

In addition to his imposing physical skills as arguably the strongest, fittest player in the game, Woods is the first to agree he has more shots in his arsenal than he did when he won four straight majors in 2000 and '01. His imagination in creating shots is unmatched, but many of his playing peers say what truly sets him apart has been his ability to stay focused and motivated while blocking out distractions.

On Tuesday, Woods once again gave full credit to his late father, Earl, who died in May 2006 after a long battle with prostate cancer, for his mental acuity, particularly his ability to deal with the crushing pressure of a back nine on Sunday at Augusta National, or any other venue in the world.

"I asked my dad to do that to me, to make me a tougher golfer, to make me a tougher person," he said. "So he did. He put me through the same stuff that he had to go through in Special Forces, all the psychology part of it. It was fun to me. It was frustrating to me at first because I didn't understand how to deal with it, but I just had to figure it out. He used to pull all the little tricks."

And in 1987, Woods actually did have an undefeated season, when he won every one of the 36 junior tournaments he entered.

"Peaked at 11," he said.

That's barring a Grand Slam apparently still very much "easily in reach."