An Amazing Stat

Ed Sherman at the Chicago Tribune put this in his weekly column and it made me stop for a moment: Tiger Woods could hypothetically sit out all of 2008 and still be ranked #1 in the world for 2009. Isn't that sick?

And just to prove that I'm on the pulse of golf with my posting, read my 2007 Year In Review and then this line from Sherman:

Woods has won five of the last six tournaments he has entered, and he finished second in the other one. So gear up the Grand Slam talk again.

The stars are aligned from a course standpoint. Obviously, he has a good handle on Augusta National. The U.S. Open will be at Torrey Pines in San Diego, where he has won five Buick Invitationals. The British Open is at Royal Birkdale, where he placed third in 1998 with much less game than he has today.

Woods didn't have a good 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills outside of Detroit, the site of this year's PGA Championship. But if he comes into that tournament with three down and one to go for the Slam, would you bet against him?