Untouchable Tiger makes it a hat-trick

Yes, Tiger Woods won again, and those who cling to the quaint notion that there are other sportsmen currently plying their trade who might be his equal are surely dwindling with every triumph.

Another record in a career defined by them occurred with his 8&7 demolition of Stewart Cink, the largest margin of victory seen in the 36-hole final of the Accenture Match Play Championship.

By adding this title to the Bridgestone Invitational and CA Championship he won last year, it meant the 32-year-old American had completed his first sweep of the trio of events that make up the World Championship series.

Twenty-eight of these events which draw together the best players have been staged over the last 10 years, with Woods winning 15 of the 26 he has entered. The next best is Darren Clarke, with two.

Woods joshed with reporters earlier in the week about the fact he won 36 out of 36 events on the California Junior Tour at the age of 11 to complete his one 'perfect' season.

Well, that's three out of three so far this year, and while the chances are he will lose some time, somewhere, just do not bank on it being any time soon.

His next outing will be the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which he won four times in a row from 2000, followed by the CA event in Florida, which he has won for the last three years. Then it is the Masters at Augusta, where, you might have noticed, he has been quite good as well.

With his 63rd U.S. Tour victory, Woods moved past Palmer into fourth place on the all-time list, with Ben Hogan next in his sights on 64. Asked what it all means, Woods looked ahead to his next event and said, smiling: 'I can't wait to see Arnie to give him a little ribbing.'

What makes this all so preposterous is that he is operating in a sport where two wins a year is considered a glittering career. By way of illustration rather than criticism, Luke Donald has made more money than he could ever spend with six tournament victories. Woods has won his last six in a row, with four on the U.S. Tour and two worldwide. We have seen him blow away the competition in four of them and win with an outrageous putt in Dubai. But this, in many ways, was the most impressive of all.

Make no mistake, the field pushed him all the way. JB Holmes had him three down with five to play in round one; Baddeley threw 10 birdies in 19 holes at him in round three, while defending champion Stenson took him to the final hole in Saturday's semi-final.

With one bound, or rather a series of incredible putts, Woods extricated himself from all those tricky situations to progress to yesterday's final against fellow American Stewart Cink.

The latter had defeated Padraig Harrington, Monty and U.S. Open Champion Angel Cabrera, among others, to get so far, and deserved his place. But what chance did he possibly have over 36 holes? Let's see, Tiger drives the ball better, is a much better iron player, has a superior short game, is miles fitter, and there is no comparison mentally.

Cink's last victory was in August, 2004. Since then, Woods has won 29 times. No prizes, therefore, for guessing what happened next.

Woods hardly brought his Agame to the occasion but still shot 32 for the front nine to be four ahead, and so the relentlessness continued. When Cink, eight down with 10 to play, holed a long eagle putt, even then Woods almost matched him with a 35ft bomb of his own that hit the hole and stayed out.

Cink went from here to a U.S. Tour policy board meeting in Florida. Perhaps he will suggest that Woods begins every round with a two-stroke handicap, for that might be the only way of evening things out. In the meantime, Woods has now played 257 holes this year with just one three putt. No wonder everyone is finding that they cannot compete.

Look back at the stats of golf's serial winners and their victory average was a shade under one triumph every five tournaments. Since his win at the 2006 Open at Hoylake, Woods has played 29 events and won 16 of them.

Woods began his wonderful week in Arizona with a shot that sailed out of bounds. For the rest of the time, as ever, he was simply out of this world.