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And so it begins...

Tiger Woods wins his second event on U.S. soil in 2008 -- again, in dominating fashion, this time an 8 & 7 match-play victory over Stewart Cink -- and his latest victory follows a 2007 season in which the world's No. 1 player won four of the final five events, including the PGA Championship. (And the only tournament he didn't win during stretch was a second-place finish at the Deutsche Bank.)

Tiger's fast start has inevitably led to the lame, cliched storylines we've come to expect: will Woods win the grand slam? Will Woods make Phil Mickelson cry during a match? Will Woods go undefeated?

Well, Tiger's already won four consecutive majors, and I'm almost certain I've seen Philbert's eyes water up on at least two occasions when paired with Woods. But it's the last one that seems most absurd. That is, until Tiger was asked about it:

Stewart Cink barely put up a fight Sunday in the Accenture Match Play Championship, where Woods broke a scoring record for the fourth straight tournament, collected his fifth straight victory worldwide and didn't so much as crack a smile when someone asked him if a perfect season was within reach.

"That's my intent," he said. "That's why you play. If you don't believe you can win an event, don't show up."

The thing is, if Rory Sabbatini says this, he gets laughed out of the press tent. But the differences between Sabbatini and Woods you can just about squeeze into the Grand Canyon.

Normally, this would be just another example of the media overreacting, chasing the most sensationalistic/least likely angle that also required little or no work on their part. And it's not like Tiger's response is something new; he's been saying this since he turned pro 12 years ago.

Of course, because Woods says he intends to win every time he tees it up guarantees nothing. But it takes on an entirely different meaning than when, say, Sergio Garcia might make such a claim. Plus, Tiger's done it before. At the risk of suffering a horrible fate, I'll go ahead and predict that Woods doesn't win every tournament he enters in 2008. Probability is on my side, but I somehow still feel like I'm getting crappy odds.Sorry, No Photos