Best yet to come?

ATLANTA -- Four victories in his last five starts is proof enough that Tiger Woods is more dominant than ever, especially considering he won those four tournaments by a combined 20 shots and shattered tournament scoring records in consecutive weeks.

More evidence came from his caddie as he waited for Woods to arrive for the final round of the Tour Championship.

"He hasn't hit a practice ball since the British Open," Steve Williams said. "I've been with him nearly 10 years now, and this is the best I've ever seen him hit the ball."

No practice? Not quite.

What he meant was that Woods has such command over his game that he stopped going to the practice range after his rounds since returning home from Carnoustie.

Woods confirmed as much when he left East Lake with his two trophies -- one for the Tour Championship, one for the FedEx Cup.

"Hey, there was no need to go," he said with a shrug and a smile.

Whether this is the best he has ever played is up for debate, but don't expect Woods to participate. He is always looking forward, always trying to figure out a way to get better. That's what makes it so daunting for the guys trying to reach his level. They know they have to get better, and that's assuming Woods doesn't continue to improve himself.

So far, that hasn't happened.

Since his latest round of swing changes took root at the end of 2004, Woods has won 21 times on the PGA Tour. That's more than Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk combined over the last three years.

And the truly scary part is that Woods, at age 31, might still be years away from his prime.

"I don't know when it's going to be," Woods said. "The whole idea is to try and keep improving. When all is said and done, when you rack the cue and go home and retire, you can honestly say, 'These were my best years, when I was at my peak.' But when you're in it, you're always trying to improve that a little bit to get to the next level."

As the trophies keep piling up, the numbers are simply staggering.

Woods now has won 61 times in just more than 11 full years on the PGA Tour. Jack Nicklaus was 36 when he captured his 61st tour victory. Woods has won 28 percent of the time since turning pro, and if that number is hard to fathom alone, consider than Mickelson has won 9 percent of his tournaments, Singh is at 8 percent and Ernie Els at 6 percent.

Woods' final putt for par at East Lake put him at 23-under 257 for the lowest 72-hole score of his career, and 6 shots better than the previous record at the Tour Championship. A week earlier at Cog Hill, he broke the tournament record by 5 shots at 22-under 262, winning by 2 over Aaron Baddeley.

With his 2007 season in the books -- all he has left is the Presidents Cup and his Target World Challenge in December -- Woods finished with a 67.79 adjusted scoring average, equaling his record from the 2000 season.

And while the $10,867,052 was short by $38,114 of the record Singh set in 2004, the big Fijian played 29 times that year. Woods played in only 16 tournaments. That's an average of $172,493 per round.

No one ever thought Woods' 2000 season could ever be topped, and it probably remains the benchmark. Woods won nine times in 20 starts, including three straight majors, and he had 3 victories of at least eight shots. But his highest winning percentage was last year (8 of 15), and his adjusted scoring average is the same as it was in 2000.

Instead of looking back, consider the future.

What if he still hasn't hit his prime?