Tiger rolling toward Masters

No one doubted he would make a difficult 25-foot birdie putt to win Sunday.

DORAL, Fla. (AP) — The outcome has never been more inevitable. Tiger Woods has never looked so invincible.

The world’s No. 1 golfer faced a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole at Bay Hill, and the moment he settled over the ball and the crowd grew quiet, it no longer mattered that Woods had not made a putt this long all week.

This one was for the win.

For most players, making such a clutch putt would be a career highlight. For Woods, it’s more like a summer rerun.

“You know what he’s going to do, right?” Arnold Palmer whispered to those around him right before Woods rapped his putt down the slope and watched it turn sharply to the right and tumble into the cup for a one-shot victory.

For Woods, it is the ultimate thrill.

“It’s knowing that you have an opportunity to end the tournament, and it’s in your hands,” he said. “Whether you do it or not remains to be seen. It’s like having the ball with a few seconds to go. Do you want it or not want it? I would much rather have it in my hands.”

Lately, it has been nothing but net.

The Florida Swing long has been known as the road to the Masters, which is three weeks away. Woods already has his game at warp speed, and he’s lapping the field. His victory Sunday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational was his fifth in a row on the PGA Tour and his sixth straight worldwide, a streak that spans six months and is the longest overall of his incomparable career. When he won seven straight tour events in 2006-2007, second only to Byron Nelson’s 11 in 1945, Woods lost three times overseas.

Now, even the purists must wonder if Woods can go an entire season without losing.

“It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?” Steve Stricker said Monday. “You think that one of these times, he’s not going to get it done. But he continues to do it. And now you expect it. You just learn with him that nothing is unexpected.”

Woods’ latest victim was Bart Bryant, who did everything right and never felt so helpless.

Bryant twice made birdie to tie Woods for the lead, shot a 67 in stifling heat and waited in the scoring trailer to see if Woods could beat him. There was no television in the trailer, and Bryant didn’t need one.

He heard a roar that rattled the trailer, and Bryant forced a smile and slowly shook his head.

“That’s why he’s Tiger Woods,” he said.

Stricker felt that way outside Chicago the second week in September, when this winning streak started. He had a one-shot lead in the final round when he got to the 12th hole, looked down toward the green and saw Woods make a 50-foot birdie putt to catch him. Woods went on to a two-shot victory.

He can sympathize with Bryant.

“That’s all you can do sometimes is shake your head and laugh,” Stricker said. “That’s what it’s getting to be — laughable.”

Golf is more global than it was a half-century ago, so Woods’ winning streak is complicated. This is the third time he has won at least five in a row, and he also won on the European Tour last month, shooting a 31 on the back nine to rally from a four-shot deficit.

And he won the Target World Challenge in December, although that doesn’t count because it was a charity event that Woods hosts for 16 top players from the world ranking. For what it’s worth, Woods won by seven shots.

Woods is so dominant that he has won seven of his last eight times on the PGA Tour, the exception being a runner-up finish to Phil Mickelson at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Labor Day. He’s 16 for 25 since the 2006 British Open.

“What he’s doing now, you can’t even fathom it,” Bryant said. “You just can’t explain it. It’s just incredible. Just what he did [Sunday] is more evidence of this weird zone he’s in. And he’s been in it his whole life.”