Masters win would send Woods to Grand Slam

Tiger Woods begins his 2008 season today, and by Sunday night he most likely will have his first victory.

But another "W,'' as Tiger fondly refers to them, is secondary this weekend, as is everything he does for the next two months.

The truth is, Woods is pointing toward the Masters like never before -- because never before has he been so poised to capture the Grand Slam.

He has rarely been more prepared physically, more secure emotionally, more in tune with his swing psychologically, than he is today.

More Coverage Links Can Tiger win the Grand Slam?

Assuming nothing strange occurs between now and April, Tiger Woods will go into that weekend at Augusta with the best chance he'll ever have to capture all four majors in a single season.

And we're here to tell you right now that if he wins the Masters in 2008, he will win the Grand Slam.

Yes, the Grand Slam.

But it all begins, or ends, at the Masters.

Even though he has won it four times, there have been years -- including last year -- when he looked positively out of sorts all weekend.

In 2007, he played some brilliant golf at Augusta but in a couple of rounds didn't look anything like the Tiger Woods who won five of his last six 2007 starts (with a second), and was in complete control of every aspect of his game.

He hit fairways with such consistency -- 80.3 percent at Cog Hill in September -- that it was an unfair fight, and if he hits them down the pipe this weekend at the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines, after another long layoff, you'll have a pretty good idea of where he will be in 11 weeks, heading into Masters weekend.

And that's the key to his entire major season.

Why? Simple.

The U.S. Open, traditionally the toughest of the four majors, is at Torrey Pines, as close to a slam-dunk for Woods as Cog Hill has been throughout his career.

True, the Pines of June won't look anything like the Pines of January. Nevertheless, comfort is as comfort knows.

Woods has won five times at Torrey Pines, and with the Masters in his pocket he will take the U.S. Open and look at the British as make or break.

Tiger knows the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills outside Detroit, where he played the 2004 Ryder Cup, is his, especially after winning the last two PGAs.

So it will come down to the third major, the British Open, and knowing he will be returning home to be crowned the Grand Slam champ, he'll romp at Royal Birkdale, where he finished 1 shot out of a playoff in 1998.

If he wins the first two, it doesn't matter how Royal Birkdale plays. It can play long, short or moonscape, Woods will win it.

The last time it was there in 1998, Woods' close friend Mark O'Meara took home the Claret Jug, so there's another source of information for Woods, as if he'll need it.

No, the fact is that Tiger Woods needs to hit fairways at Augusta in April, and if he does he will win the Masters.

And once he has won the Masters, the rest falls right into line for him to add just another record to all that he will own by the time it's over.

Yes, he did once hold all four major titles, from the 2000 U.S. Open to the 2001 Masters, a feat known as the Tiger Slam. But that's not enough for Woods, and he sounds focused on the task at hand.

"I'm really excited about starting out the year, and then my preparations toward Augusta,'' Woods said earlier this week at the Tiger Woods Learning Center. "I felt like I made some improvements this winter.

"I solidified things I was working on toward the end of last year. At Target, I wasn't quite there the last two days. I went back and looked at it, figured out a few things and was working on that. I'm excited to play again.''

It should be noted that at the Target World Challenge, Woods won by 7 shots after a 10-week break.

And so he worked on some things.

Tinkered, if you will.

Fine-tuned.

Now, he starts the year at Torrey Pines, which he eats up, before he tapers toward the Masters, which, if he wins, sends him sailing back to Torrey Pines and a legitimate chance to be 2-for-2 in 2008 majors.

And you can be certain for all you're worth -- which, if you haven't checked your 401k since November, is not what it was -- Woods is not going to miss the last two if he gets the first two.

You must believe that if we've stumbled upon this formula, it's one already cooked, served and digested by the greatest athlete who ever walked the planet.

The Grand Slam is right there for him.

Like never before -- and perhaps never again.