Yesterday Tiger Woods was back home in Windermere, Florida, with some extra silverware for the coffee table. A silver trophy replica of the Augusta National clubhouse joined the British Open claret jug, and the US Open and US PGA trophies to provide visible confirmation, to him, he has scaled heights no other professional golfer has ever reached.
As the first man to hold all four professional majors at the one time, Woods, at the ripe old age of 25, has achieved what others only dreamed about. It may have taken 10 months, and spanned two different years, but Woods' feat is one of the most remarkable in sporting history.
In golfing terms, there is nothing to compare with it; and it's even difficult to make comparable judgments with other sports. In the aftermath of his win, Woods was asked, as a child growing up, who were the sporting greats and the landmarks he sought to emulate. He replied: "I think some of the biggest accomplishments I've ever been privy to have been on videotape . . . I haven't been on the planet long enough to have seen the greatest athletes of all time do some of their stuff."
And, yet, the fact he went on to mention watching videotapes of Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Carl Lewis served to illustrate that, in his own mind, Woods belongs with those greats.
"I guess in golf, my first recollection of the Masters is when Jack (Nicklaus) won in 1986. I was 10-years-old at the time, but I do remember the shots he hit," said Woods, who, in winning his down-the-stretch battle with David Duval and Phil Mickelson on Sunday, became the youngest player to win six career majors, from 17 starts. Nicklaus also won his second Masters title in his 17th major start in 1966. It was his fifth major victory.
Of his last 16 rounds in the majors, 15 of them have been under par and 13 of them have been in the 60s. His victory in Augusta was his third straight win on the US Tour inside the past month, which also included the so-called fifth major, the Players' Championship, and his prize money from Sunday's victory - $1,008,000 - lifted his season's earnings to $3,263,857 and his career earnings to $23,767,307.
One of the most impressive aspects to Woods' game is he can bring it to the major championships, and one of the most impressive aspects to Sunday's win is he did it, as he put it, "toe-to-toe" with players of the calibre of Mickelson and Duval down the back nine of Augusta.
"I'm amazed I was able to play as well as I was able to play when I needed to. I think that's where a lot of the hard work goes, into the hours that you spend by yourself on the range, the putting green, chipping green, out on the golf course late in the evenings when you're making yourself work that extra bit, because you're probably going to need it," said Woods.
Indeed, Woods' preparations for the Masters started this year. Even when he was going through his much-hyped so-called "slump", he was practising shots he figured he would need at Augusta. For instance, on the practise range in Dubai last month, it was revealing to watch Woods hitting shots that only had Augusta in mind and that shot was produced on the 13th tee in the final round. "My best shot of the day," is how Woods described it.
In his six major wins, Woods has led going into the final round - but his ability to finish off a job is reflected in the statistics that show, in events on the US Tour and European Tour, he has 22 wins and four losses from when he led heading into the final round. The tournaments he lost were: 1996 Quad Cities Classic (to Ed Fiori), 2000 Deutsche Bank Open (to Lee Westwood), 2000 US Tour Championship (to Mickleson) and last month's Dubai Desert Classic (to Thomas Bjorn).
Crucially, in the majors, he has always got the job done on the occasions he has held an advantage going into the last day. In the 1997 Masters, he led by nine and shot a final round 69 to win by 12; in the 1999 US PGA, he co-led with Mike Weir and shot a final round 72 to win by one; in the 2000 US Open, he led by 10 shots and shot a final round 67 to win by 15; in the 2000 British Open, he led by six shots and shot a final round 69 to win by eight, and in the 2000 US PGA, he led by one and shot a final round 67 before beating Bob May in a play-off.
What Sunday proved is his fellow professionals still have some way to go, although Mickelson and Duval will look back on opportunities missed. Duval's 72holes total was the lowest ever by a runner-up.
"I guess, when you're talking about Tiger, it's a bit like when people were competing against Jack Nicklaus, and they beat him, and that is where we are at. We've got another player in Tiger who is the best player in the game right now, and I think what it will do is make my victories in majors that much more special."
Mickelson talked in a similar tone. "If I'm going to win with Tiger in the field, I cannot make the mistakes that I have been making. I just can't keep throwing shot after shot away, but I don't think I am that far off," said the world number two.
The way things are developing, though, it looks as if Woods will be world number one for as long as he wants it. Although he became the first world number one since Fred Couples in 1992 to actually win the Masters, he continues to raise the bar for everyone else.
Woods has surpassed his own world rankings points record following his record-breaking Masters victory. He is the first person in the 15-year history of the rankings to possess more than 1,400 total points and the first to break the 30-point average barrier.
