Tiger is having a remarkable season thus far, with his second victory in three PGA regular event starts. And who knows what he would have done at the Nissan if he hadn’t been sick. So he’s two for two in events that he’s finished. If you count Dubai, he’s three for three.

And I’m feeling like a dope for not taking him on my Fantasy team. I had Mickelson and Garcia instead.

A couple of observations about Tiger this weekend.

First, he’s got to be one of the luckiest men on the planet. Villegas misses the fairway and he ends up behind a banyan tree (twice). Tiger misses in the same direction and still has a shot at the green. Other players hit a sand trap and their balls die. Tiger hits a sand trap, and the ball skips out to settle in a good spot on the green. Even more lucky: had he missed the trap, his ball would have skpped completely across the green and off the back side.

Second, no other player seems to be able to handle the pressure of challenging him. Mickelson, Beem and others simply self destructed. Toms had a shot at forcing a playoff at least, but couldn’t close it out on the 18th.

The Ford Championship had 17 of the World’s Top 20 in attendance, and only Toms showed up to play. Els was the next closest at seven shots back.

So in truth, Woods didn’t have to play his Sunday best to walk away with a “W.” And with that kind of competition, he might not lose again this year.

With two wins in as many outings, Tiger Woods has extended his lead on number two Vijay Singh. As of Monday, Woods has 17.77 points, with Vijay at 9.17.  The rest, in order: Retief Goosen, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Sergia Garcia, Jim Furyk, Chris DiMarco, David Toms and Adam Scott.

This is Woods’ 376th week at number 1.

Wow.

I’m watching the Golf Channel’s Tape delay of the Dubai Classic, and am really impressed with Tiger’s play. They just showed a couple of long bunker shots that he managed to get within an inch or two of the hole.

Given that he won his first tournament of the season—and as of this writing is making a run at Els in the top sport at Dubai—this could be a very good year for Tiger.

(Yes, I know that the outcome of the tournament already has been determined, but I refuse to look at the news until I finish watching.)

While watching the FBR Open today, I had a sense that television is desperate for a young player to step up and challenge the dominance of Mr. Woods. They kept talking about the various young players on the tour, and how they might challenge the World’s Number 1. High on their lists were JB Holmes and Ryan Palmer.

But there have been many challengers to Tiger over the past decade, and none could stand up to the legend. It would be good for golf if one of these young guys did turn out to be the Tiger’s Tom Watson, or Lee Trevino.

But I’m not holding my breath.

It’s interesting to note that six of Tiger’s ten major wins have come at two courses: Augusta and The Old Course at St. Andrews. That’s not to diminish his accomplishment, but clearly those two are set up for his game.

Sports Illustrated has a list of Tiger’s favorite courses: Bay Hill, Augusta, Muirfield, Medinah and Firestone.

By my count, he has 16 victories on these five courses. That’s 34% of his total PGA Tour victories on just five courses.

I also think you could throw in Torrey Pines, where Tiger has won four events. That means that he’s won around 40% on six courses.

What does this say about Tiger? I don’t know, because I don’t know about the win dispersion of Nicklaus and Snead. But I suspect that their wins were not concentrated on as few courses. (Maybe Snead, though. He won eight of his 81 at the Greater Greensboro. They were played primarly on two courses. So that’s potentially as much as 10% on one course).

Tiger’s power to draw television audiences was evident Sunday, as the Buick Invitational recorded a 5.9 rating and 12 share—up 146% over last year’s ABC coverage.

The coverage peaked between 7 p.m. and 7:15 p.m., as the playoff neared conclusion, with a 9.4/15.

A recent article in Golf Digest says that Tiger will drop at least one of his current sponsors in 2006. As I’m sitting here watching the Buick Invitational, I’m wondering if Buick will be the one.

Buick itself seems to be backing off of golf. It has not renewed the Buick Scramble, and is dropping title sponsorship of the Buick Open (formerly the Greater Hartford Open). Of course, that may have been precipitated by the PGA Tour moving it to a lesser position in the schedule. I find it hard to believe that the Tour would have moved that event without consulting Tiger.

Tiger has always commited himself to playing in Buick events, so dropping Buick would give him more flexibility in his schedule. I’m guessing that he’ll still play Torrey Pines, since he always has a good showing there. But I can’t see him returning to Flint, Michigan to play at Warwick Hills.

I actually never pictured Tiger as actually driving a Buick. A Cadillac, yes. But not a Buick.