Prior to his arrival at Muirfield Village for the Memorial Tournament, Tiger Woods went to Pinehurst No 2 for a practice round. And his short-game skills in winning the Memorial last Sunday suggested that he is now ready to make a serious challenge for the next week's US Open.

When he was growing up in Cypress, California, Woods used to take golf balls and throw them into trees, so that he could work on those delicate recovery shots that are crucial to a professional's armoury. But it is only now, after almost three years on tour, that we are seeing the results of that work.

"I've always loved the short-game shots," he said yesterday. "I've always loved chipping and scrambling. I was so wild when I was younger that I had to hit those shots." But he added: "The great thing is that my game is coming around. I pressurised Vijay (Singh) with my short game and I could see he was becoming frustrated."

While he was shooting four successive sub-70 rounds to win the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open in Heidelberg two weeks ago, Woods kept protesting how much his game had improved since his US Masters triumph of 1997. But it was only at Muirfield Village last weekend that the evidence was laid out for all to see.

It was especially evident in a glorious little chip shot which finished in the cup at the 14th last Sunday for a most improbable par. Even course designer Jack Nicklaus was moved to suggest that a bogey five would have been a good result.

This was the shot which broke the spirit of runner-up Singh, who battled Woods all the way, despite a poor reward on the greens. "He chipped in for par and I made bogey: he got the job done," said the Fijian, about the fateful 14th.

But there was more to come. At the 207-yard 16th, Woods hit only a seven iron downwind but even that was too much club and he finished in the back bunker. Given that he was 81st in sand saves on the USPGA Tour last year, Woods might reasonably have been expected to get the recovery within six feet of the target: he got it to within a foot.

As Tom Watson once observed, however, a prerequisite of successful scrambling is good putting. And that is where Woods shows the greatest improvement on last season when he was ranked as low as 147th in the putting statistics in the US. On Sunday, he single-putted nine times in a round of 69.

Those are the sort of skills which are crucial to success in the US Open in which, incidentally, Woods has finished tied 82nd, tied 19th and tied 18th in the last three years. In fact expert observers at Muirfield Village last weekend were of the view that the course was set up remarkably similar to what may be expected for the blue riband of American golf.

Meanwhile, a comparison between the scoring statistics of Woods and Singh was fascinating. Both players had 18 birdies, one eagle and five bogeys over the four rounds. In fact the only thing that separated them by two strokes at the finish, was a double-bogey from Singh. Woods committed no such indiscretion.

Humility is a key element for improvement at most sports, especially golf. And despite the remarkable success he has achieved so far in his young career with nine US tournament wins and three elsewhere in the world, Woods seems very anxious to learn.

"Being young, I am prepared to soak up knowledge," he said. "I'm learning how to play the game of golf a little better than I did before and I will continue to do so until the day I die."

Given that his last eight tournament rounds have been played in 30-under-par for two successive victories, the lad seems to be doing just fine.