Statistically, Tiger had one of the best putting weeks of his career at Trump Doral. (Ehrmann/Getty Images)

By PGATOUR.COM staff

One of the big reasons why Tiger Woods won the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship last week was his success on the greens at the TPC Blue Monster at Trump Doral. The 100 putts that he needed during the four rounds was the lowest total of his career at a four-round event, but that only tells part of the stastical story. Take a look at these numbers:

MOST PUTTS MADE OVER 8 FEET (Tiger Woods in the ShotLink era)

TIGER'S 27 BIRDIES AT WGC-CADILLAC (by feet)
Among Tiger's 27 birdies last week, he had one hole-out from off the green (first round, fourth hole) and one 2-putt birdie (third round, first hole)

MOST STROKES-GAINED PUTTING IN AN EVENT (Tiger Woods since 2004)
Woods outperformed the field by nearly eight total strokes on the greens, ranking second in the field for strokes gained-putting. The only person better on the greens last week was Steve Stricker, who just happened to provide Tiger with some putting tips at the beginning of the week.
Last week's putting performance by Woods was his second-best performance on the greens since ShotLink began tracking strokes gained-putting data in 2004.

MOST ONE-PUTTS IN A 4-ROUND EVENT (Tiger Woods' PGA TOUR career)
For the week, Woods ranked second in one-putt percentage, having the most one-putts in his career in a four-round event.

FEWEST PUTTS IN A 4-ROUND EVENT (Tiger Woods' PGA TOUR career)
Tiger accomplished his career-best in total number of putts in a four-round event with 100 at the WGC-Cadillac. He finished with his best putts-per-round average with 25, ranking second in the field.

Steve Stricker picked up more than two shots on the field average per round in putting at the WGC-Cadillac.
(Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

WEEKLY PERFORMANCE STATS ARCHIVE

Week 2: Sony Open in Hawaii

Week 3: Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation

Week 4: Farmers Insurance Open

Week 5: Waste Management Phoenix Open

Week 6: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

Week 7: Northern Trust Open

Week 8: The Honda Classic

Do you have the motivation to improve like Tiger Woods? Find out how ... (Halleran/Getty Images)

By Gregg Steinberg, Special to PGATOUR.COM

One of the hardest mental skills to possess is to stay motivated to practice and compete, day in and day out. Tiger Woods has had this skill since he joined the PGA TOUR in 1996.

How does Tiger keep that fire inside him to burn so brightly?

One of the main factors is his pursuit of the golden idol: He wants to break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors. However, another key ingredient to his amazing motivation is his mastery orientation. Although Tiger wants to be the best in the game, he also relishes improvement.  He constantly tinkers with his game in his continually pursuit to get better.

Case in point at this week’s World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship: Tiger worked with Steve Stricker on his putting mechanics (who ironically finished second at the event). Stricker told Tiger to square his stance a bit and weaken his left hand so that the hands would be farther ahead of the clubhead. It worked wonderfully. Woods not only won the tournament, but also had a career-low 100 putts for a PGA TOUR event and rolled in an amazing 27 birdies.

Tiger has intuitively hit upon what sports psychology researchers have already discovered. Mastery oriented golfers are more likely to enjoy their sport, be less anxious, be less likely to burn out, and ultimately perform better.

Does your fire burn brightly for continual improvement, or are you satisfied with your current scoring ability?

If you want to develop a greater mastery orientation in your golf game like Tiger, here are some of my mental game recommendations:

1)     Don’t be afraid to get worse before you get better. A lot of golfers are not willing to tinker with their game because it may hurt their scores. Let go of the “score mentality” and develop more of a “learning mentality.”

2)     Evaluate your mistakes on the course as learning opportunities. Begin to see your bad shots as a roadmap for what to work on in your next practice session.

3)     Let go of your golfing ego. Allow yourself to look a bit foolish when you are a trying a new shot or technique. Don’t worry what your friends will think as they won’t be laughing when they see all your great improvement.   

Be Like Tiger and enjoy the journey of a continual pursuit of excellence.

Dr. Gregg Steinberg is the author of the best selling golf psychology book, MentalRules for Golf. He is a regular guest every Tuesday on “Talk of the Tour” heard on the Sirius/XM PGA TOUR radio. Dr. Gregg is a tenured professor of sports psychology and has been the mental game coach for many PGA TOUR players.  You can see more about him at www.drgreggsteinberg.com, and you can e-mail him at mentalrules24@msn.com for any comments or questions about your mental game.

By PGA TOUR staff

With his victory at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship on Sunday, Tiger Woods ...

-- Earns his 76th career PGA TOUR victory at the age of 37 years, 2 months and 10 days in his 297th (283rd professional) career start on TOUR.

ALL-TIME PGA TOUR VICTORIES:

1) Sam Snead – 82; won 76th (1957 Palm Beach Round Robin) at the age of 45 years and 6 days
2) Tiger Woods – 76; won 76th (2013 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship) at age of 37 years, 2 months and 10 days

2013 HIGHLIGHTS

-- Earns 550 FedExCup points to move to No. 2 the FedExCup standings, 177 points behind Brandt Snedeker.

-- 2013 PGA TOUR tournament summary: Starts: 4; in money: 4; victories: 2; top-10 finishes: 2

CADILLAC CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES

-- Woods has seven victories (1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2013) in 13 career starts at the Cadillac Championship.

-- Enters the final round with a career-best 24 birdies through 54 holes. His career-best for 72 holes is 28 (2007 TOUR
Championship by Coca-Cola, 2006 Buick Open).

WORLD GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS NOTES

-- Wins his 17th World Golf Championships event and first since the 2009 Bridgestone Invitational. From 1999-2009, Woods did not go an entire season without winning at least one World Golf Championships title.

Victories in the World Golf Championships:

Cadillac Championship (7): 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013
Bridgestone Invitational (7): 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Accenture Match Play Championship (3): 2003, 2004, 2008

CAREER NOTES

-- Claims fifth victory in last 19 starts on TOUR.

-- Has won 76 out of 283 (27 percent) professional starts on the PGA TOUR.

-- Wins for the fourth time at TPC Blue Monster at Trump Doral: 2005 & 2006 Ford Championship at Doral, 2007 & 2013 World
Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship.

-- Has now won four events on the PGA TOUR seven times. The others are the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone
Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational and Farmers Insurance Open.

Has had five or more victories (professional starts only) in the following:

Farmers Insurance Open (1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2013)
WGC-Cadillac Championship (1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013)
Arnold Palmer Invitational (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012)
WGC-Bridgestone (1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009)
Memorial Tournament (1999, 2000, 2001, 2009, 2012)

-- Wins for the 14th time in the state of Florida, tied with California for most in his career.

-- Has now converted 51 of 55 third-round leads/co-leads on TOUR. Has converted his last four third-round leads.

-- Has now converted 36 of 46 second-round leads/co-leads on TOUR.

-- Has now converted 14 of 28 first-round leads/co-leads on TOUR.

Tiger Woods made 27 birdies in 72 holes -- and a friendly putting lesson from Steve Stricker helped.
(Little/Getty Images)

By Fred Albers, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

Did you see one golf ball spin on the greens this entire week at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship?

When players arrived on site, the TPC Blue Monster at Trump Doral was already playing fast, both the fairways and the greens. Particularly the greens. Usually, the greens receive less and less water as the tournament progresses, leading to very firm putting surfaces by the weekend. There was no gradual progression this week in Doral, Fla., the greens just became faster and faster. It’s unhealthy to deprive a golf course of water but the entire Trump Doral complex is getting a makeover for 2014 so it did not really matter if greens became stressed.

OBSERVATIONS

Lesson learned: Steve Stricker helped Tiger Woods with his putting on Wednesday. He discovered Woods was set up a little open, which affected both his alignment and his stroke. How did Tiger putt? He made 27 birdies in 72 holes and took just 100 putts en route to his victory. It would be a mistake to say Stricker’s lesson was the reason Woods won. Tiger still had to make the putts, but as the birdies fell his confidence certainly grew.

Funny guy: Rory McIlroy has to feel much better about his game. He admits he was frustrated at the start of the week but finished strong by shooting a 65 on Sunday. He was bogey-free in the final round, making five birdies and an eagle. McIlroy may still be taking the club back slightly to the outside, but his confidence has to be greatly improved. His sense of humor never left. The walking scorer temporarily lost sight on McIlroy on Thursday and told him, “I thought I lost you there for a minute.” To which McIlroy replied, “No, that was last week,” referencing his withdrawal from The Honda Classic.

Percentage: With his wife Nicki caddying this week, the Strickers saved some considerable cash. A caddie usually gets 5 percent of a player’s winnings but is bumped up to 8 percent for a top-10 finish and 10 percent for a victory. That percentage is in addition to the weekly salary. By finishing second, Stricker kept about $80,000 in the family. On the other hand, when wives caddie for players, the percentage sometimes changes. In many cases, the wife will tell you, “I kept it all.”

Back nine: The final nine holes at TPC Blue Monster were ripe for scoring. Six of the nine holes played under par but Phil Mickelson did not take advantage. His last birdie of the tournament came at the eighth and he played his final nine in 1 over with a bogey at the 11th. That’s a frustrating finish for a player that birdied four of the first eight holes and had played the back nine in 6 under coming into the final round. Some of that finish is due to the golf course. The greens got so crusty that it was hard to putt aggressively.

TPC Blue Monster: Even with the greens rolling at 13.5 on the stimp meter, TPC Blue Monster was still ripe for scoring. Nine of the 18 holes played under par for the week. The exception was the final hole. The 18th is a monster. It was the hardest hole of the week playing to a stroke average of 4.38 and a full stroke over par in the final round. The entire course will receive a makeover before the 2014 tournbament with Gil Hanse being brought in for the redesign. It will be interesting to see how Donald Trump and Hanse work together on this project. Trump has mentioned an island green on the 15th hole. The drivable 372-yard 16th hole gave up 78 birdies this week and there is the possibility a lake on the left will be brought closer to the green.

Fred Albers is a course reporter for SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio. For more information on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio, click here.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

DORAL, Fla. -- Steve Stricker decision to cut back on his schedule has paid big dividends.

In three starts this season, the 46-year-old has finished second, fifth and second.

Even though Stricker didn't win Sunday at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship, he left TPC Blue Monster pleased.

"I'm happy the way I'm playing," said Stricker, who shot a final-round 68 to finish two strokes behind winner Tiger Woods. "It's been a good start to the year. Been on the short end a couple times but played some pretty solid golf and am putting the ball better."

Ironically, it was a putting lesson earlier i nthe week that Stricker gave to Woods that helped Woods to his fewest putts ever in a four-round tournament.

With Woods leading by four going into the final round, Stricker didn't exactly have a lot of faith in being able to catch him.

"You don't have a lot of ‑‑ what's the right word ‑‑ belief that he's going to come back to the field I guess," he said. "He's been so solid with 54‑hole leads over his career that you just don't think he's going to come back. And he didn't again."

And Stricker played some of his best golf again after arriving in South Florida rested.

"I just feel like there's little pressure on me out there," Stricker said. "I'm having really a lot of fun. I know deep down that I'm only playing 11 times, and that excites me. But I also get very pumped up and excited to play when I do come out. I work at it hard still at home but in the back of my mind, it's just coming out and having fun, trying to play good golf and see what happens."

DORAL, Fla. -- It was never really a matter of if on Sunday, but by how much.

In the end, the difference was only a couple of strokes after Tiger Woods shot a 1-under at TPC Blue Monster to win the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship.

But Woods' latest victory was one of his most impressive.

He made 27 birdies for the week and on Sunday led by as many as five strokes before bogeys on two of his last three holes made the margin closer.

Steve Stricker, who gave Woods a putting lesson earlier in the week, finished second.

"Thank you, Steve, for the putting lessson," Woods said. "It was one of those weeks when I felt good about how i was playing."

It marks the second victory of the season for Woods, who also won at Torrey Pines, and the fifth in his last 19 stroke-play events dating back to last year's Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.

It is also his 17th career World Golf Championships title and the 76th PGA TOUR title of his career, moving him to within six of all-time leader Sam Snead.

Woods also moves to second in the FedExCup standings and with a victory at Bay Hill in two weeks would return to No. 1 in the world.

Tiger Woods won for the 76th time on the PGA TOUR at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship on Sunday.

Woods, who trails only Sam Snead (82) in all-time victories on the PGA TOUR, collected 550 FedExCup points and moved to No. 2 in the standings, 177 points behind leader Brandt Snedeker.

Want to congratulate Tiger? Leave a note in the comments section below and we'll deliver it to him.

DORAL, Fla. -- Four-shot lead, four holes to play.

That's where Tiger Woods sits right now at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship, where he's closing in on his second win of the season and fifth in the last 51 weeks.

Steve Stricker is alone in second at 17 under. No one else is closer than six shots.

Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell, who is playing alongside Woods for a second straight day are at 15 under, while Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson are another stroke back.

Scott had the week's best round so far with a 64.

Defending champion Justin Rose, meanwhile, shot 68 to finish at 10 under.