As if he doesn’t KO most of the field with the intimidation factor every time he tees it up, Woods has even more of a punch at Augusta. His four wins in 10 starts as a pro at the Masters is something the opposition can’t fathom and if he happens to toss up a red number on Thursday, the resignation factor increases exponentially.

It’s not like the opposition has history on its side when they tee it up in Augusta. After all, Woods has been par-or-better in 32 of his 40 rounds there as a pro and 14 times he’s broken 70. Then there’s the matter of Woods with a 54-hole lead — he’s lost just once, and that was in his rookie year, 1996, and even then it was a mere one stroke.

No one possesses a killer instinct like Woods and for evidence, ask Stephen Ames, summarily dismissed by a 9 and 8 count in the first round of the 2006 WGC Match Play Championship.

Go back to the last major played, the PGA Championship in August. Woods won it by five.

The major before that? The British Open, and while Woods won it by just two, it felt like 22.

In all, going back to the start of 2006, Woods has won 10 of 17 stroke-play events, a winning clip that gets much better if you focus in on the last nine, because he’s won eight of them.

This is unmatched stuff in the world of pro golf.

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So, too, is his 1997 Masters victory, but if anyone is capable of matching that Woods performance, it is Woods. Why? Because he’s a far better player than he was 10 years ago, Because he remains the hungriest. Because he’s still the best putter, assuming you’re taking into account only with putts that have to be made. Because while there’s great depth to PGA Tour fields, there truly aren’t that many players who feel they can hang with him once he gets it going.

And if there’s one place where he can certainly get it going, while all those around him collapse out of frustration, it’s Augusta National.

Maybe not this year. But soon enough. Record romps, after all, are made to be threatened, if not broken.