Woods' winning streak may be over, but his dominance is not

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Woods finished in the top 10 three times in 2010, including a T6 in his last start at the HSBC Champions.

Another week, another one of those things we took for granted has slipped away.

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Tiger Woods 0-fer-2010. It doesn't sound right, does it? Yet it is.

The streak of 14 years with at least one official win is gone. History. Oh, he'll start a new one. That's a done deal. But the chance that he'll go 17 more years and catch Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer? Or 16 and catch Billy Casper? Slim and pretty much none.

Tiger will have to settle for third on this all-time list. Nothing against a comeback, mind you, it's just hard to imagine him grinding it out for one more win at 50. Maybe we're wrong. But we doubt it.

The new Tiger will just have to let that number go. He probably already has. There's only one number that really counts anymore -- those 18 majors. Well, that's to tie Jack. He needs 19 to stand alone.

The best in the world? Oh, he wants to be on top of the Official World Golf Ranking again, but it's just a number. He wants to be the best in the world. Again. And the only way to do that is win.

Admit it. You really thought he would sneak one in before the end of the year. Yes, he's playing this week at the Australian Masters. And he's hosting his own Chevron World Challenge.

But those don't count. Well, they do. And they don't.

After all those little glimpses of that old brilliance he's thrown out over the last few months -- that back nine on Saturday at Pebble Beach, the Ryder Cup, a shot here or there -- we figured it would all come together. The swing changes, the therapy, the acceptance that his life is on a different path... they were all bumping into each other for the longest time. Yet now, they seem to be working together.

Tiger's laughing at himself and finding a little self-deprecation can be good for the soul. He's more relaxed. He's also as determined as ever.

The discussion du jour is whether the Tiger era is over. The Tiger-Phil era too. Has the last year been too much? Has it taken too great a toll on the two best players in the world? Are the kids nipping at their heels -- and yes, they've emerged full-force this year -- ready to take over? Will he win again? Will he get 18 majors?

Will he go down as the best ever to play the game?

If we've learned nothing else over the years, it's that we can talk all we want -- and everyone is weighing in, well, just about weekly, if not daily -- about what might happen. We're all too often dead wrong.

Take 1986 when everyone thought 46 was too old. Jack got us, didn't he? Or 1999 when four points was just too much. Ben Crenshaw made us believe in fate. Or Phil's O-fer streak in majors. Some figured it would be for life. It wasn't. We could give you chapter-and-verse on all the "next Jack Nicklauses" from the 1970s and 80s, but why?

Tiger done? That's a bit much, isn't it? Considering everything that's transpired in the last year -- well, 50 weeks... who wouldn't still be trying to pull things together? It's a lot to deal with. Think about it.

We've always thought Tiger was impervious to just about anything. He wasn't.

And now that he's matter-of-factly dealing with losing his spot at the top and his streak? Does that change everything? Hardly.

That swing is coming together pretty nicely. Well, most of the time. He still hits it off the planet at times, but not as often as Phil.

The problem is on the greens. His putting. What used to be a dagger in everyone else's hearts, is now a nagging pain in his . . game. He was getting it to the hole last week but just missing way too often.

Yes, Tiger is grinding. Laughing off the course, all business on it. Could he win one of the next two events? Absolutely.

What he's doing now is setting the stage for 2011. For a big year? For No. 1?

We all know that's what he wants. And it's what we're used to seeing from him. But he's learning that bouncing back from knee surgery is one thing. Bouncing back from life is quite another.

Look at it with an ultra-critical eye if you must. Dissect each swing, count finishing in a share of sixth last week at the World Golf Championships- HSBC Champions as another reason to think the Tiger era is over because he finished a dozen behind the winner. Because he didn't challenge Lee Westwood and Francesco Molinari. Because he wasn't Tiger-pre-car-crash.

But think about it. He's out there pulling his game back together -- one piece, one swing at a time. He hates losing, but he also understands that this year is all about making progress. We doubt even he believed he could jump back in and win four or five times this year, including a major.

And all those things he took for granted -- that we took for granted -- they've turned into an outline as he makes his way back.

This isn't the first time he's lost the top spot. It won't be the last. And, yes, it would have been nice to tie Jack and Arnie, but ...

His eye is on 18 majors.

And winning again? Well, that's just the next step.

Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM and can be reached at melaniehauser@gmail.com. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.