Woods might seem perfect, but he says he can get better

The rest of professional golf can hope all it wants.

It can wish, it can dream, and it can pray.

The rest of the field can even try to outscore Tiger Woods, and he's always got an answer.

The best of all time probably has never played better golf than he did the last two days at Cog Hill. But after winning again on the strength of an astounding 8-under 63, pressed Sunday to admit that his brilliance here can't be outdone, Woods smirked at the notion.

And when asked if he can possibly play better golf, he offered simply, "Yes.''

Woods smiled at me after I asked as if he knew something no one else did, as if there's something else he plans to add to a game that featured 31 1-putts, 2 bogeys and 1 double bogey in 72 holes, four rounds of 67, 67, 65 and 63.

No matter what they say, no matter how brave, every other player on the PGA Tour has to admit to himself -- if not the public -- that the best who ever lived might actually be getting better.

And he can improve on this weekend?

"Yeah,'' Woods laughed. "I mean, if you don't think that way, just quit.''

But his game, especially in posting two stunning rounds over the weekend, was so spectacular that it can lend a person to scream, or leave the person standing next to him speechless.

He can take his game to the next level any time he feels threatened.

So forgive us for returning to familiar ground, but the only thing we've ever seen like it is Michael Jordan taking over a game or Muhammad Ali rallying late to take back his title.

"I hit the ball wonderfully today. I just made a couple more putts than I did yesterday. That was about it,'' Woods explained calmly, when measuring near perfection Saturday to an even more stupefying round Sunday.

"I hit the ball very clean the last two days, really all four days, and felt like I didn't really take advantage of it on Thursday.

"And I didn't make many putts (Saturday), but all of a sudden I made a bunch today. But I had to. I mean, I had no choice. If you wanted to win this tournament, you had to make putts, and I just happened to make them today.''

Woods already was 3-under for the day but still trailing in the BMW Championship when he headed to the par-5 ninth, which demanded a birdie under the circumstances.

But he pulled his tee shot left into the trees, missing his only fairway on the day.

So instead of getting on in 2 and putting for eagle, he had to chip out and hit a 210-yard 6-iron to within 18 feet. Not your standard par-5 birdie attempt, but Tiger drained it, and that was the shot that changed his day.

On No. 10, Woods heard the roars behind him from the Steve Stricker-Aaron Baddeley pairing and nailed a 5-footer to save par, with all three tied at 18 under at that moment.

On the par-5 11th, Tiger again had a tester to save par, and good thing he did because just as he picked up his ball he heard the Stricker screams a few hundred yards back.

He was now trailing by a shot, and Stricker put his approach on 11 only 10 feet away for a birdie attempt, as Tiger went at the par-3 12th with the very real chance that he could be 2 shots back.

That's when Tiger gained control. As Stricker missed his easy birdie on 11, Baddeley chipped close out of the backside bunker and got his bird, while Tiger put a safe shot into the middle of the green on 12.

But he was 48 feet away and downhill to boot. Woods started it left and it came back down the green to the right, stopping right at the hole, tantalizingly close, before dropping in for a huge birdie.

"I made a nice bomb there,'' Woods said. "I needed it the way guys were firing birdies all over the place.''

The three were now tied at 19-under par, and Tiger would never trail again. He birdied 13 to take the lead for good at 20 under, and nailed two more on 15 and 16 to put the tournament away.

But it was never easy Sunday.

"I'm thinking I just have to keep making birdies,'' Woods said. "The way (Stricker and Baddeley) were playing behind us, it forced your hand to be more aggressive.

"I was 4-under par through nine holes and I didn't have the lead. So I had no choice. I had to keep making birdies and keep being aggressive.''

Instead of playing defense, he fired at flags that a leader normally would stay away from, and dropped approach shots perilously close to bunkers that could have cost him bogeys or more.

But Tiger Woods isn't afraid of anyone or anything, and pushed to hunt for birdies he went after them with all the tricks in his bag, and he put away the best left standing.

He played some of the finest golf of his life this weekend, and yet four rounds in the 60s meant only this to him: "A 'W.' ''

That's what Woods is and always will be about: winning.

He's got 60 victories now, five years younger than anyone else ever reached the number, and he won't stop until he has passed everyone on the list and set every record imaginable.

If that alone doesn't scare the field off the course, they can merely remember what he said when asked if he could better.

His answer implied that he believes no ceiling exists for Tiger Woods.

Like everything else this weekend, his response was perfect.

brozner@dailyherald.com