No one can see a way to end Tiger's invincible run

How's that for dominating your sport? There is more. The odds on Woods going the entire year unbeaten? That will be 25-1 to you, sir.

'We know it is an artificially low price,' conceded a Ladbrokes spokesman. 'Why? Because we're scared.'

Isn't everyone? Inside the game they can see the staggering improvement, the insatiable desire.

Don't ask Woods' caddie Steve Williams to compare him now with 2000, when he won 10 times, including three majors. Listen to him, and you would think he was being asked to compare Manchester United and Hartlepool.

'Back then his putting was unbelievable,' said Williams, who is celebrating 10 years in the best ringside seat in golf. 'But he didn't hit the ball anywhere near like he hits it now, or have anywhere near the same array of shots or course management skills. There is no comparison, to be honest.'

It seems almost unfair that next up is an event Woods just happens to have won six times out of the last eight, on a course where he has won three straight tournaments.

No wonder he is odds- on to make it eight consecutive wins heading to the Masters at Augusta. 'He seems to have a good career every year,' noted Australian Geoff Ogilvy drily.

The danger, of course, is taking these unprecedented times for granted. But if you want an insight into the magnitude of what Woods is achieving, consider his answer when asked how many shots he has now mastered.

He said: 'Well, you start off with the nine basic shots, straight, right to left, left to right, and then three different trajectories, low, regular and high.

'Then you have an infinite number in between. Each and every day is different. Each and every lie is different.

'Every situation is different and you have got to be able to call upon all those shots at any time and have complete confidence you can pull them off.'

Do all that and then you get to the hard part of the game: the mental side. 'Don't forget this is a sport where you lose more than you win,' said Woods, who must have thought talk had moved on to his Ryder Cup record.

One man who has set his heart on making this year's European team is Ulsterman Graeme McDowell. If selected, he will look back upon the last match as his epiphany.

Picture the scene around the 16th green at the K Club, as thousands of Irishman went mental as the winning putt was holed. All, that is, bar McDowell. His emotion? 'I was flat and disappointed, to be honest,' he said.

He was doing radio commentary work when it hit him that he should have a golf club in his hand, not a microphone.

'I was depressed because I wanted to know how the guys felt,' he said. 'It must have been amazing to have been part of that team.

'It was definitely a kick up the backside and the motivation I needed to get going again. As soon as it was over, I came up with a two-year plan to make Nick Faldo's side.'

Out went his caddie, coach and management group. His renewed dedication to his sport has brought consistently good results on the European Tour — culminating in victory at the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea last week which left him in sixth place in the Ryder Cup standings.

Now, at 28, he is roughly back where he started five years ago, when he won in only his fourth tournament as a pro. 'I am just so pleased to be in this CA event,' he said.

'I'd have hated to have been at home, watching some of the Europeans going past me in the table and not being able to do anything about it.'

McDowell's days of watching from the sidelines, it seems, are a thing of the past.