updated 11:30 p.m. ET Jan. 31, 2006

SAN DIEGO - Tiger Woods stepped into the chill of the evening and headed to the airport for a 20-hour flight to Dubai, plenty of time to contemplate how fortunate he was to escape Torrey Pines with another victory and to wonder where it will take him the rest of the year.

Expectations figure to be greater than ever.

Woods once said the public tends to exaggerate the state of his game, perhaps because he can make it look easy. Win one tournament and people say he’s unbeatable. Go a month without winning and he’s in a slump.

“I’ve been out here long enough to have seen both ends of the spectrums,” Woods said of the expectations. “They’re always high. They’ve seen what I can do, and they think I can hit some shots. It’s awfully nice that they think I can do that.”

But his track record suggests another big year could be in the making.

His playoff victory Sunday in the Buick Invitational was the fourth time in his 10 years on the PGA Tour that Woods began the season with a victory. Each time, more trophies quickly followed.

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In his first full season, he beat Tom Lehman in the ’97 Mercedes Championships at La Costa by sticking a 7-iron inches from the cup on the first playoff hole. Three months later, the legend was born when he overwhelmed Augusta National to win the Masters by 12 shots.

Woods opened his historic 2000 season at Kapalua in a terrific battle with Ernie Els, matching eagles and birdies on the 18th hole before beating the Big Easy on the second playoff hole with a 40-foot birdie putt. By year’s end, he had three straight majors among his nine victories.

And when he missed eight weeks recovering from knee surgery, Woods returned to the PGA Tour in 2003 by shutting down Phil Mickelson and his “inferior equipment” comments to win by four shots at Torrey Pines. Woods won two of his next three starts, including an 11-shot victory at Bay Hill, and ended the year with five wins.

Woods came close to missing out on the three-man playoff Sunday.

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He was in an eight-way tie for the lead with six holes to play on the South Course, and was lucky no one else got hot enough to pull away. Struggling with the speed of the bumpy, poa annua greens throughout the final round, Woods three-putted three times, yet came up with two big par saves on the 16th and 17th.

And after running a length-of-the-green eagle putt 8 feet by the hole on the par-5 18th, he steadied himself to pour in the birdie putt to join Jose Maria Olazabal and Australian rookie Nathan Green in the playoff.

“Quite frankly, I shouldn’t have even been in the playoff,” Woods said.

From there, the outcome was no surprise.

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