Streak, or no streak? The answer, just like the question, is twofold and ambiguous. No, it's not a streak in the true sense of the word; but, yes, it is a streak in a PGA Tour context. Tiger Woods' victory in his seasonal debut in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines on Sunday gave him his seventh successive stroke play win on the US Tour dating back to the British Open at Hoylake last July, a stretch of success unprecedented in golf's modern era.

Ironically, back on the last day of September last year, on the evening he won the American Express championship at The Grove outside London to complete his run of six strokeplay wins in a row on the US Tour, it was Woods himself who confessed that he didn't believe it to be an unbroken sequence by pointing out that he had "two Ls (for losses)" in the timespan from the Open to the AmEx.

Those two defeats came in the World Matchplay at Wentworth (when he was a first round loser to Shaun Micheel) and in the Ryder Cup, while, later in the year, he was to lose in a play-off to Padraig Harrington in the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan as well as finishing runner-up to Korea's YE Yang in the HSBC championship in Shaghai.

On Sunday evening, though, Woods appeared to have had second thoughts on the matter after his two stroke win over Charles Howell gave him a seventh successive win on the US Tour covering the 2006 and now the 2007 seasons, putting him just four behind the record run of 11 consecutive wins held by the legendary Byron Nelson.

Woods, who is defending his title in the Dubai Desert Classic (on the PGA European Tour) this week, remarked of his seventh successive strokeplay win that counts on the US Tour: "As far as how special seven is, you're in elite company. There's only one person that's ahead of you.

"You know, he's one of the greatest legends in the history of the game. To be in company like that with Mr Nelson and Mr Hogan up there as well, it's pretty special to be in that kind of company."

And, on the question of whether it should be considered an extension of a winning streak, Woods - a bit like the leopard changing his spots - contended: "It's not a worldwide streak. I play all around the world. It's a PGA Tour streak, which it is.

"And on top of that, it encompasses two different years, just like 1999 and 2000 (when he achieve six consecutive wins). I play all around the world. I lost to Shaun Micheel. I lost the Ryder Cup. I lost in China, and I lost in Japan. There are some Ls in there, and they are not all Ws."

Whatever happens in Dubai this week, it will not count towards Woods' "streak" which, now, is confined purely to how he competes on the US Tour. However, his record since missing the cut for the only time in a major at the US Open at Winged Foot last June has seen him win or finish second in each and every stroke play event he has played around the world.

As he explained of his capacity to get into contention and more often than not to finish off the job, "winning breeds winning and the more you win, the more you understand how to do it, and you do it different ways. I've done it with great ball-striking.

"I've done it with lousy ball-striking, I've done it with great putting and so-so putting and sometimes I've done it with my short game. If you're able to do it different ways, it just breeds more and more confidence when you're put in that situation again."

Woods' win stretched his lead over number two Jim Furyk in the official world rankings to 11.88 average points.

The victory was his 55th on the US Tour since he turned professional in 1996 and, while he competes in Dubai this week, the only question is when and where he will resume playing - and chasing Nelson's record established in 1945 - again.

It could either be the Los Angeles Open at Riviera next month or the following week's Accenture matchplay.

While his quest for an eighth straight US Tour title is still very much alive, Woods provided an insight into his true quest.

When asked whether an eighth straight win on tour or a fifth US Masters title was uppermost in his targets, Woods replied: "My whole goal is to get ready for Augusta and prepare and make sure my game is peaking towards that."

World rankings

1 Tiger Woods(USA) 20.44pts ave

2 Jim Furyk(USA) 8.56

3 Adam Scott(Aus) 7.44

4 Ernie Els(Rsa) 6.23

5 Phil Mickelson(USA) 6.16

6 Retief Goosen(Rsa) 6.16

7 Vijay Singh(Fij) 5.73

8 Luke Donald(Eng) 5.62

9 Padraig Harrington(Irl) 5.39

10 Geoff Ogilvy(Aus) 5.17

47 Darren Clarke(N Irl) 2.39

80 Paul McGinley(Irl) 1.71