Woods had two putts to win — an 8-footer on the 18th in the playoff, and a 35-footer on the par-3 16th — but got through when his opponents faltered. From about 40 feet away, Green took three shots to reach the green on the 18th and made bogey. On the next hole, Olazabal failed to capitalize on a sensational bunker shot by missing a tricky 4-foot par putt down the hill.

Woods now is 9-1 in playoffs on the PGA Tour, and 12-1 worldwide. Billy Mayfair has become the answer to a trivia question as the only player to beat him (in the ’98 Nissan Open at Valencia).

Along with his record, however, there is another reason why expectations are rising.

A year ago, Woods won at Torrey Pines in the fog by overcoming a two-shot deficit on the back nine to surge past Lehman and Luke Donald. It was an important victory, because it ended a 16-month drought of stroke-play titles on the PGA Tour while Woods retooled his swing.

He spent the rest of 2005 alternating between brilliant and ordinary — two majors (the Masters and British Open), six victories, but also two missed cuts.

A year later, he is much closer to understanding his swing and learning how to fix it when it goes bad.

Woods took the longest self-imposed break of his career — six weeks, not even touching a club the first 24 days — and there was sure to be some rust. But he corrected his problems in a hurry.

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He started the Buick Invitational by hitting only one out of 14 fairways on the pitch-and-putt North Course and shooting 71. But on the back nine of the South Course on the weekend, when he could have easily slipped out of contention, he rarely missed a tee shot.

He hit all but one of the final six fairways Sunday to give himself a chance.

“It’s always more meaningful to do it whenever you have to,” Woods said. “I had no choice. I had to hit the ball in play to give myself chances because I was behind. On the back nine, hitting the shots like I did off the tees, it felt just as good as hitting those last two shots at Augusta, when I absolutely had to.”

The reference was to his playoff victory in the Masters last year. His best two shots were on the first extra hole, when he hit 3-wood in play and 8-iron to 15 feet for his fourth green jacket.

The Masters is more than two months away, and Woods will have six more tournaments to get ready. That starts this week at the Dubai Desert Classic, a field that includes Ernie Els.

“Last year, I had a long way to go. I had a lot of different things I needed to fix to be ready for Augusta,” Woods said. “This year, the list is a lot shorter, and the changes aren’t as big. From that standpoint, I’ve got a head start.”

And winning his first event of the year never hurts.

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