On-fire Woods favourite at Firestone

From one happy hunting ground to another. It is as if Tiger Woods chooses the venues himself.

Four days after winning the US PGA championship at Medinah for a second time the world number one tees off at Firestone Country Club in Akron tomorrow seeking a staggering fifth victory on the course in eight years.

What used to be the World Series of Golf and then became the NEC Invitational is now the Bridgestone Invitational. But whatever the title the favourite stays the same.

Woods, a five-stroke winner of his 12th major title on Sunday, beat Phil Mickelson by one in 1999, Phillip Price and Justin Leonard by 11 the following year, needed seven holes of a play-off to see off the challenge of Jim Furyk in 2001 and then last August defeated Chris DiMarco by one.

He also had two of the lowest rounds of his career at the venue, an eight under par 62 seven years ago and then a 61 in 2000, and on the second of those occasions set a US Tour record of 125 for 36 holes (64-61) that still stands.

Woods is, in short, as dominant here as on the major stage – and too many players for their own liking know how dominant that is.

Britain’s Luke Donald was the latest to experience it at first hand. Joint leader on Sunday with a round to go and in contention at a major for the first time, Donald did not manage a single birdie and shot 74 against the American’s 68.

Woods has, in fact, had a European for company on the last day for four of his 12 triumphs – and not one of them has even matched par yet.

At the 1997 Masters Costantino Rocca, already nine behind, shot 75, then it was Sergio Garcia at the 2002 US Open and last month’s Open. He returned scores of 74 and 73.

“Winning breeds winning,” Woods said today, “and the fact that I’ve been down the stretch enough times where I’ve had to handle the heat and have been successful, that gives you an added confidence.

“In 1997 I was extremely nervous starting out. As the years go by you are still nervous, but probably not as because I’ve been there before.

“I’ve had much more experience of handling my emotions and learning how to deal with them and learning how to manoeuvre around the golf course.

“I think that’s allowed me to win as many times as I have.”

As for Firestone he stated: “I’ve always enjoyed coming here. It’s one of the neatest courses we play all year; old-style, no tricks.

“Most of the modern courses aren’t like this. They don’t have trees like this or defined fairways like this. It’s more of a ball-striker’s course.”

Woods revealed that he had tried to get hold of Tom Lehman before the naming of Stewart Cink and Scott Verplank as the two Ryder Cup wild cards, but “he was busy doing other things.

“We talked early in the week about possible picks. I just wanted to give him my two cents on what I thought the team needed.

“The two picks are great picks.”

Among the players Woods had mentioned to Lehman in their pre-PGA discussion was John Daly. “I think he would have been a good addition to the team, but he wasn’t playing well,” Woods said.

Daly, a winner of both the PGA and Open, has still to appear in the Ryder Cup.