Hauser: Huge numbers don't tell the whole Tiger story
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.com Correspondent
• Buick Invitational: Win No. 62 for Woods | • Shedloski: Arnie reflects on career
• Graphic: Hogan's 64 next for Woods | • Photos: Palmer, Woods tied 
• PGA TOUR Career Win Lists: Woods | Palmer • Ross: Swing change takes effect
Another win, another milestone.
And here we are taking it in stride.
What used to be the unthinkable is, after all, now the norm. Those things we never imagined we would see are unfolding right in front of us. A baker's dozen majors. That Tiger Slam.
And now, the thought, perhaps the hope, of a true Grand Slam.
When Tiger Woods picked up win No. 62 at Torrey Pines Sunday, our minds didn't flash to the all-time victory list, where he now shares the fourth spot with one Arnold Palmer. We were already wondering which week he'll catch Jack Nicklaus for a share of second place in 2009.
You see, we're thinking like him now.
He may have has us at hello, but when he asked if we were ready for him? We only thought we were.
What we saw back then was a gawky kid with an unbelievable presence and a confidence so strong it seemed to overshadow his talent. We contemplated his future and what might be. He just flat believed.
We didn't see what he did. Not when he changed the face of golf and society that week 11 years ago when he turned Augusta National into his own private playground . Not when he went on that tear in 1999 and 2000 and completed his slam. Not even when he got to 50 wins.
Now we do.
When all's right in his world, the gap between Tiger and the rest of the field is ridiculous. On those weeks -- and they're hardly rare -- it's never a matter of if, but rather by how many.
In redefining a game and the face of a game, he has redefined the best.
Dominance is whatever he decides it is. Extraordinary is simply what he is.
At 32.
After winning the last two events of the 2007 season and tossing in a little off-season victory for good measure., he blows away the field at Torrey Pines. We shouldn't really be surprised. He had five wins there before.
But the script? He trailed by two after round one and was up by four at the turn. He stretched it to eight -- and that only by the grace of Stewart Cink's great stroke for eagle at the last -- after 54.
When he gets like this? Just know that eight shots feels like 88 and move on.
The promise of Grand Slam seems just around the corner. And that has nothing to do with what just happened on the West Coast. Torrey won't be the same once the USGA touches it, but we're still thinking Tiger will be the man. There and at Augusta National, Royal Birkdale and Oakland Hills.
We don't have to remind you of how close he came at the first two majors last year, do we? And after turning human at Carnoustie, how he turned it back on at Southern Hills?
Winning four in a season was never going to be a problem for Tiger. He told us that back in 1997 when someone dared asked about the mythical Grand Slam. Three majors in a season was the best anyone had ever done. He flashed that smile and said all he had to do was win the right four events in a season.
We weren't sure back then. The kid could just be cocky. Challenging Ben Hogan in 1953? That was about as likely as taking on Jack's unreachable 18.
Today we think, yeah, right. What were we thinking? And then we flash to that incandescent smile. That easy way he has of looking at you and letting you know that only one thing matters -- what he believes he can do.
He grew up understanding the only limits in his world were the ones he put there. Which is why there are none.
Tiger's driven not by a number in a book or the players pushing him. He's driven by what's inside of him; what he believes is possible.
That doesn't mean he'll win 18 events this year. Neither does it mean he won't.
Seven or eight or nine? That's the norm.
We ran out of words to describe what's happening a while ago. So we, too, simply choose to believe.
Why wouldn't we? While he's grumping about his cranky driver, he's taking the lead. When he figures it out? The field is playing for second.
Tiger is human. He has rough edges and bad days. He's affected by loss and grief and the emotion of becoming a father. He has not -- and will not -- win every time he tees it up.
He doesn't count the others out, and we shouldn't, either. But Tiger's best is so much better, his belief so much deeper and unwavering, his focus so laser-like that on his green-light weeks he can widen a small gap into a chasm.
Yes, the game is learning from him. But for the foreseeable future, it won't catch up to him.
Cue that smile.
Blessed is the way we describe watching the man and his career. He's changed the way we think about so much; the way we think, period. Golf. Race. Society. And that's just for starters.
We can't walk in his shoes, but we now think like he does. We do believe.
He has us when he steps on the course -- whether he's 8 back or 88 ahead. Some days he brings magic with him, other times perseverance. He can run roughshod or be calculating and methodical. If he's not engineering a great escape, he's making that Nike One ball dance on string or disappear from view.
His presence? It's like no other.
So we move on. We know that in a month or so he'll catch Ben Hogan at 64. Then it's on to Jack's 18 and his 73 and Sam Snead's 82. Toss in Kathy Whitworth's 88, too.
After all, they're all just numbers.
Not limits. Not stopping places. Just moments to savor before he presses on.
He's relaxed and ready for more.
So are we.
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