LA JOLLA, Calif. — It was over before it began, so much so that even Tiger Woods seemed to let his mind drift.
Woods ambled onto the practice green Sunday morning with an eight-stroke lead and 18 holes to play in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines. Attired in his customary red and black, he stroked a few putts, ducked into the locker room, came back out and hit a few more putts across the entire length of the green.
"Isn't it 10:30 yet?" he asked one of the caddies (not his own).
"Uh, we're off at 10:40," the caddie replied.
Woods smiled, and sidled up to his caddie, Steve Williams.
"I thought we were at 10:30," Woods said, laughing. "Can I not remember anything anymore?"
Let the record show that on the day that Woods tied Arnold Palmer with his 62nd career victory — they trail only Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead — the world's No. 1 player, still just 32, had a senior moment of his own.
Woods hardly seemed rattled. After being incorrectly introduced as a "three-time champion" (he'd won the Buick five times, including the last three), Woods blasted a perfect drive down the first fairway, hit the center of the green with his approach and rolled in a 38-foot birdie putt.
When Stewart Cink bogeyed, having failed to clear the lip of a fairway bunker, the group's scoring standard (19-9-8) brought to mind not so much a golf tournament as a lopsided game of blackjack.
"I'd say this is the best I've seen him play," Cink said.
Woods shot one-under 71 to finish 19 under, eight shots ahead of Ryuji Imada, whose 67 tied Rory Sabbatini for best round of the day and netted him second place. Cink (73) and Sabbatini tied for third at nine under, 10 strokes back. Woods's fourth straight Buick title tied a Tour record for consecutive wins, a feat he has also accomplished at Bay Hill.
Although Woods and others said the USGA's setup at this year's U.S. Open will in no way resemble this week's PGA Tour setup (Open courses are much firmer and have longer rough), it all suggested a less than competitive week when that major comes to Torrey Pines in June.
"I knew that I could attain another level," said Woods, who has won five of his last six starts on Tour, going back to the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational last summer. "And here we are."
Woods was asked if he was playing the best golf of his career. "Yes," he said. Even better than 2000, when he won nine times, including three majors? "Yes," he said.
"He's making history, end of story," Jason Gore said as he cleaned out his locker. "The guy's the chosen one."
Kevin Stadler added: "Anymore, you just know you're not going to beat him. I shot 72 (Sunday) and I think that's pretty good on the South Course, and he's getting it around in 66 (Saturday) and 67 (Thursday). He's not human."
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