If it’s playoff time, Tiger doesn’t crouch

Brian Hilderbrand

Tuesday, April 4, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.

Although he would rather win a golf tournament in a rout, as Phil Mickelson did Sunday in the BellSouth Classic, Tiger Woods isn't afraid to get down and dirty and take it to a playoff, as he did in last year's Masters.

Woods said he was in his element last year when he and Chris DiMarco went into a playoff at Augusta. Woods calmly sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole for his fourth Masters championship.

"I think the important thing is once I get into a playoff, I feel very comfortable because it is a match-play situation, and with my past in USGA events, going back to my junior and amateur days, it's very similar to that," Woods said.

"I always have felt comfortable in a playoff atmosphere because ... it's like hitting a putt: Either it's going to go in or not going in. Either you're going to win or not win. There's only one of two circumstances that are going to happen so it's kind of a neat rush."

So, too, is winning at Augusta and donning the green jacket - a ceremony, Woods said, that never gets old. Last year, Woods joined legends Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer as the only players to have won at least four Masters.

"I've won four and, I tell you what, it's been hard to believe, really, just because it's the Masters," he said. "I mean, this is something that every kid dreams of playing in and hopefully one day even winning it, if you're lucky enough.

"To have an opportunity to have won four already, it's the thrill of a lifetime, really, to even be associated with those great champions and Jack and Arnold. I think that it's one of the greatest tournaments in the world."

What, me worry?

Mickelson was asked Sunday if he was concerned that he might have peaked too soon, heading into the Masters, with his dominating performance at the BellSouth Classic.

"No, I'm not worried at all," said Mickelson, the 2004 Masters champion. "I feel as though I'm starting to get really sharp as far as distance control and some of the areas I've been working on. I think those areas are going to be critical (this) week for a good performance at Augusta, especially given the changes (to the course) and how difficult it's playing."

Mickelson's 13-stroke margin of victory was largest on the PGA Tour since Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach by 15 shots.

The number of wire-to-wire winners of the Masters (Craig Wood, 1941; Arnold Palmer, 1960; Jack Nicklaus, 1972; and Raymond Floyd, 1976)

The number of top-five finishes by Jack Nicklaus in the Masters

Also noted