Woods again the man to beat

Here we go again. Tiger Woods is chasing a piece of history when he tees off in Seattle today.

A week after coming so close to becoming the first player ever to win three majors in a season twice, Woods now seeks a fourth successive victory in the NEC world championship event.

And nobody has done that on the US Tour since Gene Sarazen at the 1930 Miami Open.

A total of 19 Europeans are in the elite 78-man field at Sahalee, the course where Vijay Singh won his first major title four years ago.

Rich Beem is present as well, trying to make it three wins in a row after his superlative one-stroke victory over Woods in the US PGA championship on Sunday.

But Woods hogs the limelight once more as he looks to extend his remarkable domination of the world championship series since they were introduced in 1999.

He is the only name on this particular trophy, beating Phil Mickelson by one on its inaugural staging, setting records galore in winning by 11 shots 12 months later and then coming out on top after an incident-packed seven-hole play-off with Ryder Cup team-mate Jim Furyk last year.

All those were at the Firestone course in Akron and the switch of venues does at least offer the opposition more hope. Woods was 10th in the 1998 US PGA, eight strokes behind Singh.

If it is the majors which most whets the world number one’s appetite, it is the world championships which most pleases his bank manager.

His record is staggering: played 10, won six and nearly £3.6million in prize money - plus another £327,000 in bonuses for being the most successful player in them each year.

It will not concern him in the slightest he has twice as many players to fend off this time.

For the last three years the NEC tournament’s million-dollar first prize has been strictly limited, primarily to members of the Ryder and President’s Cup teams.

Last year only 39 took part and that became 37 when first Lee Westwood withdrew with a wrist injury and then American Kirk Triplett was disqualified for a rules infringement.

Now it has been widened to include everyone in the world’s top 50 and winners of designated events - an expansion which has helped earn places for Justin Rose, Paul Lawrie, Jose Maria Olazabal, Danes Anders and Soren Hansen, German Tobias Dier and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, winner of the Scandinavian Masters on only his fourth professional start earlier this month.