With his latest victory, Tiger has left no doubt that he is the greatest closer in sports. (Source: AP)

With his victory at the PGA Championship at Medinah, Tiger has not only moved one career major closer to Jack but he has also knocked the collective competitive psyche of his rivals down a few notches.  With his 12-0 mark when leading a major after 54 holes, Tiger has surpassed Mariano Rivera as the greatest closer in sports.  We have reached a point where it is now fact to say when the pressure is at its greatest Tiger remains unflappable while his opponents become flammable – going down in a glory of flames.

Despite his overwhelming success in closing out majors there were actually some doubters who questioned if he could uphold his blemish-free streak. There were a lot of writers who were penning the end of Tiger’s streak believing that either the birdie-friendly Chicago course would benefit the field or that it was simply Tiger’s time to falter – these mainly come from the type of writers who thrive on being the first to call someone’s demise regardless of how premature and foolish they look most of the time. You know the kind of writers who have been telling you for years that Martin Brodeur’s excellence is just a product of the Devils’ defence or that Tom Brady is just a product of the program he plays in.  The other doubters came in the form of his fellow competitors. Remarkably or perhaps naively his fellow challengers felt that Tiger was not unbeatable.

After watching Tiger for the better part of a decade I think we have all learned that the last thing you want to do is provide him with a press clipping that he can use for that extra bit of competitive motivation. Exhibit A: Canadian, Stephen Ames. Matched up against Tiger at the 2005 World Match Play Championships, Ames made some pre-round off-handed comments about his chances, "Anything can happen, especially where he's hitting the ball." Tiger proceeded to thrash Ames 9&8 – the quickest way you can defeat an opponent in an 18-hole match play. Asked after the beating if he was aware of Ames' comments, Woods replied, “Yes”. Asked if he was motivated by Ames' comments, Woods replied, “Yes”. Asked for his reaction to Ames' comments, Woods replied, “9&8”.

Apparently a few guys at the PGA Championship missed the memo about giving Woods extra motivation.

David Pelz, Phil Mickleson’s short-game coach: “When Phil's at his best, I'm thinking nobody can beat him. If Phil's long swing is good, his short game, I believe, is the best in the world. I'm not saying Tiger's short game is bad, he has a great short game. But I think Phil putts more consistently than Tiger does. He has more imagination and a few more shots around the green."

Geoff Ogilvy:  “He's not going to win them all. He's pretty special, but he's not unbeatable."

Mike Weir: "I know everybody's expectations are that he's going to go out and win the championship, because he's done it so many times from the front, but there's always time to stop the streak, so hopefully, I can do it."

Luke Donald: “You know he doesn’t want to ruin that record, and … he’ll have people expecting him to win. Maybe I can use that to my advantage and just kind of sneak by without anyone noticing and pick up the trophy.”

Outside of Pelz’s comments there’s no real bulletin-board material here.

Ogilvy, Weir and Donald are not trying to get under Woods’ skin; they’re simply providing feedback to the questions being posed to them about Tiger. The problem is these quotes do question Tiger’s ability to close out and as we’ve been reminded of once again that’s not something that should be questioned or discussed lightly. Just for the record, Ogilvy shot a final round 74 finishing 9 back, Weir shot a 1-over par 73 to finish 7 back after starting the day only 2 back and Donald shot a 2-over par 74 round devoid of any birdies after starting out the 4^th round as co-leader.

Tiger’s competitors would be wise to adopt the press conference teachings of Drew Rosenhaus when it comes to any question of Woods’ vulnerability or weaknesses. A “next question” response does not provide fuel for Tiger’s competitive edge. It seems as though too many people are making that mistake; either that or they sound like they’re already conceding defeat. Chris Riley, Tiger’s 3rd round playing partner actually said that it was a thrill to watch Tiger shoot a 65 and he had a lot of fun; this despite the fact that Riley started the day two strokes off the lead and played poorly enough to end the day trailing by 9. You almost wonder if Riley asked for Tiger’s autograph after the round.