| NOTES | | | Tiger Woods has won five straight starts on the PGA Tour, and six worldwide.
That tally becomes seven if you count the title he claimed at the Target
World Challenge in December, an unofficial event with an elite field of 16.
Considering his history at this week`s tournament, there`s little reason to
doubt those numbers will increase by one. Woods will tee off at the CA
Championship as the closest thing there is to a shoo-in winner in golf,
having claimed the World Golf Championships event three straight years and
six of the eight times it has been held. By winning the Arnold Palmer
Invitational at Bay Hill last weekend, he became the first player in PGA Tour
history to win four tournaments at least five times apiece. For a player
widely considered the greatest ever, he may just be playing his best golf.
And that`s not a prospect many in this week`s field are likely to consider
lightly. "What he`s doing right now, you can`t even fathom," Bart Bryant said
on Sunday, the victim of Woods` winning 25-foot birdie putt at Bay Hill`s
18th. Last year, Woods made good on his vow to be peaking in the weeks ahead
of the Masters when he carried a four-shot lead into the final round at Doral
and held off Brett Wetterich by two shots with a final-round 73. It marked
his 13th WGC crown and 56th PGA Tour win. By winning the Accenture Match Play
Championship last month and the Arnold Palmer on Sunday, he has extended
those counts to 15 and 64. The rest of the field this week includes the
remainder of golf`s best players, including the only other men who have ever
won this tournament: Mike Weir (2000) and Ernie Els (2004). Eight of the 10
winners on the PGA Tour this season will be in the field, including Woods,
Els, Daniel Chopra, K.J. Choi, D.J. Trahan, J.B. Holmes, Phil Mickelson and
Sean O`Hair. Pebble Beach champion Steve Lowery and Mexico winner Brian Gay
will not. The Golf Channel will have coverage of the first two rounds, while
NBC will take over for the weekend. The event counts towards the PGA and
European Tour schedules -- with both circuits hosting opposite events this
week.
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