Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: That there is at last a young and talented player who can offer a consistent challenge to the PGA Tour’s reigning King.

According to ESPN’s Jason Sobel, the newest pretender to the throne is none other than Adam Scott.

You had to see this one coming. Scott has just come off a convincing victory at the Tour Championship (albeit one sans Woods and Mickelson), and now has four (or five, depending on how you count them) victories at the tender age of 26. He’s currently ranked fourth in the world rankings.

And that’s enough for the hype to begin.

I think that it shows the hunger golf fans have for someone—anyone—to offer a challenge to Tiger. Heck, most of us would just be happy if the field wouldn’t embarass itself by folding at the most critical moments.

Not that Scott is a bad choice. If you read Sobel’s article, you’ll see that he’s got a lot going for him:

Of course, it’s utterly ironic that we’re considering Scott for this portrayal as Tiger’s rival following his victory over a Tour Championship field that didn’t include Woods. But the way the 26-year-old disposed of his elite competition at East Lake this week—convincingly, connivingly stretching his lead to three before Sunday’s final round, then winning by that same margin—read like a page torn from Tiger’s private diary, “Why I Always Win.”

It is hardly a coincidence that Scott so strongly resembles Woods. He’s patterned much of his career after the man he’s chasing. Earned his country’s amateur title as a junior player, just like Tiger. Got some brief collegiate experience, just like Tiger. Captured his initial professional victory at age 20, just like Tiger.

The precocious young Aussie is everything Tiger was at 26—talented and athletic, sleek and strong, composed and humble. Everything, that is, except a major champion, but trust us—that’s coming.

I have to say that I would like to see it. I like Scott as a player—and from the interviews I’ve seen him do, he strikes me as a personable guy.

But as I said, I’ve heard this story before. And I’m not ready to buy into it.

Cashing in on his fame as Tiger Woods’ swing coach, Hank Haney has signed with Golfsmith to create an exclusive line of training gadgets. The first of them will be out in 2007.

Given Tiger’s prediliction for dumping people who get too big for their britches and trade off his fame, Haney may not be on Team Tiger for much longer.

Larry Bohannan—one of my favorite golf writers—had an interesting piece on the LPGA as it entered the Samsung Championship last week. He seems to feel that after years of waiting, the LPGA may finally be on the verge of a breakthrough.

The most interesting bit, however, is his take on Annika Sorenstam: that for all her starpower, whe may have been holding the LPGA back.

For all of Sorenstam’s greatness, there may have been a downside to her brilliant play. As she was winning an average of eight tournaments a year over the last six year, often by lopsided margins, she wasn’t allowing anyone else a chance to win. Every tournament Sorenstam won was another missed opportunity for younger, talented players who just kept coming up short against one of the game’s all-time great competitors.

In a sense, Sorenstam condemned the younger players to being stuck with the worst label in sports - potential. Potential in sports means a player ought to do something in the future, but hasn’t done anything yet.

In this, I think that Larry has left something unsaid—that in the same way, Tiger Woods may be hurting the PGA Tour.

I’m going to think some more about that one and fill it out later.

At the end of the week in which Byron Nelson passed away, Tiger Woods extended his winning streak to six. It’s the longest of his career, but five short of Nelson’s magic 11.

There has been some discussion as to whether he is really at six, or at one, since he was bounced out of the first round of match play at Wentworth two weeks ago. But the streak he is pursuing is the PGA record for consecutive victories, for that is the one held by Lord Byron. He’s at six, and people should stop trying to take that away from him.

I really think that we have to start seriously considering the idea that Byron’s “Unbreakable record” is attainable. In a previous post, I wrote about a possible scenario for breaking the streak.

But Tiger’s overwhelming victory—for that is what an eight shot win is—makes me pause for thought.  If he is so dominant this week, what happened last week during the Ryder Cup? If Tiger had turned in a performance like he did at the American Express Championship, he would have done better than 3 points. Granted, that would have made it 11.5 to 16.5, but perhaps if he had dominated others would have been inspired.

Indeed, if you judged his career on his Ryder Cup performances, he would not be considered the Greatest Player Ever, but just Another Good Player. I think it’s pretty clear that the Ryder Cup—for whatever reason—just doesn’t do it for him.

A friend of mine suggested yesterday that he had one million reasons to win the American Express, and none for the Ryder Cup. He pointed out that Tiger was one of the players who, a few years ago questioned why they should pay the Ryder Cup for free.

I don’t think it’s the money, though. I think that Tiger is inspired by PERSONAL achievement. That would explain why he’s so dominant in singles matches, but merely adequate in team efforts. And it would explain why the Captains in team events do so much hand wringing over finding the proper partner for him. If the money figures into it, it is likely just as a measure of his own personal success.

Tiger’s a solo act. And that’s ok. (I think Stevie should be prepping his resume, though). I’m not much of a “team” guy either; I’d rather succeed or fail on my own efforts. But knowing that, I try to bow out of as many group efforts as possible.

And if Tiger feels that way, maybe he should bow out of the next Cup.

Jeff Rude of GolfWeek lays out a reasonable scenario for Tiger winning twelve in a row—and tying Byron Nelson’s record—by February 2007.

Given Rude’s scenario, I think it’s actually possible.

Rude begins with the obvious —that Tiger would begin by winning the the WGC American Express in England the week after the Ryder Cup, the FUNAI Classic at Disney and the Tour Championship—three tournaments he has won in the past. Given Tiger’s prediliction for repeat wins, that’s not a stretch.

That takes him to eight by the end of the season.

He then wins the Mercedes and the Buick Invitationals in January—again, tournaments he has won before.

That’s ten.

The next two are more problematic. He is scheduled to play at Riviera in the Nissan Open next. But he has never won there before. Not a good sign for Mr. Repeat Performance.

And assuming he wins that, he would then have to win the World Match Play in Tuscon—a tough assignment where one off day ruins his chances at number 12. Rude suggests that if an opportunity to tie Nelson’s record presents itself, Woods might add the FBR to his schedule before that.

I’ve got another suggestion. How about playing the Sony in Hawaii? He’s already be there after the Mercedes, and he could stay on his floating palace. Just have someone go drive it out to meet him.

The Buick would then be his eleventh victory. He could tie at Riviera and then choose to play the FBR or the Match play for the new record.