Mike Celizic

Forget Dennis Eckersley, Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage and Trevor Hoffman.

Mariano Rivera? Take a back seat. The best closer in the world isn’t any of these men. It’s Tiger Woods.

We hold this truth to be as self-evident as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Any scintilla of a doubt there may have been about Tiger’s position on the all-time list of the world’s greatest closers was removed Sunday on the Saharan fairways and greens of Hoylake at the British Open, or, as they call it on that side of the pond, the Open Championship.

At some point, you’d expect to run out of superlatives to attach to Woods’ mastery of the most difficult of games. And then he pulls off another performance the likes of which you’ve never seen, and it’s off to the thesaurus you go, searching for new ways to say un-freaking-believable.

It is now 11 times that Woods has climbed onto the first tee box in the final round of a major tournament with all or a share of the lead in his pocket. And it’s 11 times that he’s ended his day with hugs all around and kisses for the trophy.

It’s not that he can’t be beaten because there’s never been a human being who couldn’t lose. And for all the tournaments Woods has won, there are hundreds more he’s played in that have ended with someone else hugging everybody in sight on the final green.

In fact, when Woods doesn’t have the lead going into the final 18 of a major he’s oh-for-his-career in winning. That’s right. The world’s greatest golfer and the man who would be the best in history, has never come from behind to win one of golf’s four sacred tournaments.

So, for all his accomplishments and talent, he’s not Superman.

But when Woods has the lead at the start of play on Sunday, he keeps it. You may tie him along the way or even pass him momentarily, but you’re not going to beat him, not in a major. He’s had the 54-hole lead 11 times now in majors and he’s won every one of them. In regular tournaments, he’s almost as good — he lost a 54-hole lead in 1996 and lost his next one just nine years later. Overall, he’s lost just three times when leading or tied entering the final round.

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Jack Nicklaus lost leads in majors. Ben Hogan lost them. Sam Snead did, as did Arnold Palmer and every other great golfer. And someday, Tiger will probably lose one, too. I just wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that day to come.

Because if ever there was a Sunday when Woods seemed vulnerable, this was it. He had blistered Hoylake in the first two rounds, but, with a chance to put the tournament away on Saturday, he couldn’t do it.

The one-shot lead he took into the third round remained a one-shot lead when he finished. Bunched behind him were some impressive names: Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and Chris DiMarco all a single stroke behind; Angel Cabrera and Jim Furyk two back, and nine other golfers within five strokes of him.

Slide show   British Open Top images from Royal Liverpool

We all know what happened at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot last month.

Playing in his first tournament in more than two months and mourning the death of his father and best friend, Earl Woods, Tiger had failed to make the cut in a major for the first time in his professional life.

He hadn’t exactly played himself into shape after that, entering just one tournament — the Western Open — after the U.S. Open and acquitting himself well with a second-place finish. But this was the British Open, and everybody on the leaderboard was primed to win it.

Slide show Woods' world As these images show, there’s more to Tiger Woods than simply golf more photos

He never gave them a chance. DiMarco came closest, shooting a four-under 68, but Woods topped that with a five-under 67, which was tied for the low score of the day. Els briefly tied Woods, but every time somebody crept close, Woods would drain a seeing-eye birdie and put them back in their places. He hit one bad shot the entire day — just one. It cost him his only bogey of the day, but that, too, he got right back.

It’s not that he can’t lose, but that he won’t lose. Garcia has played for seven years, establishing himself as one of the greatest young talents in the game and dreaming about winning a major. So he got in the final pairing with Tiger and started throwing up all over the course.

That was it in a nutshell. Garcia buckled under the pressure, apparently more suited to be the next Colin Montgomerie than the next great champion.

DiMarco held steady and fought unbelievably hard, believing every step of the way that his mother, who died suddenly on July 4, was directing his shots from heaven.

TIGER'S 14 MAJOR VICTORIES Event Site Score Edge Second U.S./08 Torrey Pines -1 1 Mediate* PGA/07 Southern Hills -8 2 Austin PGA/06 Medinah -18 5 Micheel British/06 Hoylake -18 2 DiMarco British/05 St.Andrews -14 5 Montgomerie Masters/05 Augusta -12 1 DiMarco* U.S./02 Bethpage -3 3 Mickelson Masters/02 Augusta -12 3 Goosen Masters/01 Augusta -16 2 Duval PGA/00 Valhalla -18 1 May* British/00 St.Andrews -19 8 Bjorn, Els U.S./00 Pebble Beach -12 15 Els, Jimenez PGA/99 Medinah -11 1 Garcia Masters/97 Augusta -18 12 Kite * Playoff

But even divine intervention was no help, not against the greatest finisher in the history of sports. For his part, Woods believes his father was looking down on the proceedings, but Woods never suggested that Earl was pushing his irons dead onto the greens and directing his putts at the heart of the holes. He did it himself, just as he’d done it 10 times before.

He did it without once pulling his driver from his bag. He did it smoking four irons ridiculous distances with laser-like precision. He did it like Nicklaus did it, hitting the fairways, hitting the greens, putting like he was from a different planet, and, when he needed to, pulling out the greatest short game out there.

The pressure that makes everyone else worse makes him better. The burning desire to win that he shares with everyone else out there never turns on him as it has on Montgomerie, Mickelson, Garcia, Greg Norman and so many others.

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Eric Gagne once went an entire season with the Dodgers without blowing a save. Rivera went five years without blowing one in the postseason. And we marvel at what they did.

But Woods has gone his entire career without once blowing a lead in the only tournaments he counts — the majors. I don’t care what sport or game you pursue, when it comes to closing the deal, no one has ever been better.

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