Tiger Woods matched another golfing milestone through his victory in the Canadian Open at Glen Abbey last Sunday. But at the risk of seeming churlish, it took him considerably longer to complete the treble of US, British and Canadian Opens than when Lee Trevino did it in 1971.

Still, Woods continues to set stunning standards in shotmaking. On this occasion, it was a magnificent six-iron of 213 yards, hit from a bunker and over a lake guarding the front of the par-five 18th, which he birdied for a one-stroke victory over New Zealander Grant Waite.

The shot was hit to perfection: it had to be to have the ball pitch almost at the hole before coming to rest four or five yards past the target, in the back fringe. Apart from picking the ball cleanly off the top off the sand, he had to "quieten down his legs", as they would say in the professional game, so as to maintain a solid footing in the hazard.

Despite these precautions, however, Woods still experienced some anxious moments. That much was evident from the television pictures of him biting his lower lip as he wondered if sufficient power had been administered to clear the water. "When the pressure is at its peak, that's when your concentration level is at its highest," he said. "It builds to a crescendo."

It was reminiscent of another wonderful six-iron shot, the effort of 210 yards which Seve Ballesteros hit from the left rough onto the green at the treacherous 17th (his 71st hole), on the way to victory in the 1984 British Open at St Andrews.

A different tournament schedule in 1971 meant that Trevino went from a play-off victory over Art Wall in the Canadian Open in Quebec, directly to the British Open at Royal Birkdale. There, on July 10th, he gained a one-stroke victory over Formosa's Lu Liang Huan - the famous Mr Lu - and promptly donated £2,000 out of a winner's cheque for £5,500 to an orphanage in nearby Formby.

Trevino's victory in the US Open at Merion the previous month meant that in 23 days, he had played in four tournaments, winning three of them, including the so-called Triple Crown. And earlier US wins at Talahassee and in the Memphis Classic, meant he had logged up five victories in three countries in 11 weeks.

Incidentally, that win by Trevino at Merion also went to a play-off. And it will be remembered for a typical, Supermex prank on the first tee of the play-off with Jack Nicklaus. Standing nervously while waiting to hit off, Trevino remembered that his daughter had left a toy snake in his golf bag, whereupon he grabbed it and tossed it at the Bear.

Momentarily frightened when a woman next to him began to scream, Nicklaus then dissolved into hearty laughter. But he eventually lost the play-off with a 71 to Trevino's sparkling 68.

Meanwhile, Woods has now gained his ninth tournament win of the current season, bringing him level with the achievement of Gene Sarazen in 1930 and Paul Runyan in 1933. One more and he will equal Ben Hogan's 10 of 1948. But Sam Snead had 11 wins in 1950; Hogan had 13 in 1946 and the all-time record stands to Byron Nelson, with 18 in 1945.

The most US wins by a player in his 20s was 29 by Nicklaus: after a third successive win, Woods' tally stands currently has 24, with five more years to come. Small wonder he was prompted to remark: "I've had a wonderful summer."

His next appearance in Europe will be when he defends the $5 million American Express Championship at Valderrama on November 9th to 12th. Last year's effort will be remembered for an amazing, final round of 68, despite an eight at the long 17th. And on current form, who knows what magic he will weave this time around.

As we saw from the television pictures on Sunday night, Woods' talent has to be seen to be fully appreciated. Yet the cold statistics of his tournament rounds also tell a hugely impressive tale. Like, for instance, the fact that he has not had a score higher than 72 since the first round of the Byron Nelson Classic in May, when he had the effrontery to shoot a 73.

But of the 39 tournament rounds he has carded since then, no fewer than 26 of them were in the 60s, including a course-record equalling 61 in the second round of the NEC Invitational at Firestone. A measure of his dominance in the latter stages of the Glen Abbey event can he gauged from the fact that Waite had rounds of 69, 64, 68, 66 and still had to settle for second place.

In his last eight tournament appearances, he has won six times, the exceptions being the Western Open, where he was tied 23rd and the Buick Open in which he was tied 11th. Otherwise, there were wins in the Memorial, US Open, British Open, USPGA Championship, NEC and now the Canadian Open.

The top 10 in the US money list are (US unless stated): 1 Tiger Woods $8,286,821; 2 Phil Mickelson $3,387,457; 3 Ernie Els (South Africa) $3,207,739; 4 Hal Sutton $2,976,444; 5 Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) $2,322,345; 6 Davis Love 111 $2,087,612; 7 Vijay Singh $1,987,368; 8 Tom Lehman $1,948,739; 9 Kirk Triplett $1,865,882; 10 Jim Furyk $1,845,919. Other placing - 228 Keith Nolan (Ireland) $17,841.

Christy O'Connor is 51st in the US Seniors money list with $276,009 from 18 events. Bruce Fleisher leads with $2,085,406.