He has been flashing his stripes and fangs rather radiantly these days (much like with thunder and lightning effect) and it would be a crime to ignore it. He just won his fifth straight PGA tournament last Monday; the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, Massachusetts in come-from-behind fashion. Going to the final round, he was trailing Vijay Singh by three strokes; overtaking the renowned Fijian in the 1st 4 holes of the last day and ultimately winning by 2.

Vijay had scored a scorching 61 in the third round; who would have thought Tiger would score 63 in the last day, to Singh’s 68? (Cue in thunder and lightning effect). But we get ahead of ourselves… Tiger actually was coming off a rare missed cut a few weeks after the death of his father Earl. And this happened in a major, the US Open last June, which he had previously won in 2000 and 2002. But his closeness to his father, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army, obviously took its toll on the 30-year-old sensation.

Earl had nurtured Tiger’s talents from the time he was a toddler, getting him to hit balls on television as early as when he was two years old and was his chief adviser well into his years as the world’s number 1. It was understood he would need time to get over his loss. But like all great athletes, Tiger was able to get himself together right away, placing second in the next event he entered, the Cialis Western Open, barely three weeks after the US Open debacle.

Thereafter, he started his five-tournament winning run, starting off with the British Open, then the Buick, the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the PGA championship, culminating in that swash-buckling victory in Boston.

The British and the PGA are, of course, majors, and people are starting to talk of another Tiger-slam, meaning winning all four majors in a row, the other two being the Masters and the US Open. Of course, we will all have to wait for next year’s Masters and Open to see if he can do a repeat of his slam of 2000-2001. Woods joined the pro ranks in late 1996 at the age of 21, electing to put on hold his college studies at the prestigious Stanford University.

Coming in with only seven more tournaments left in the 1996 season, not too many people thought he could play well enough to land in the top 125 players for the year in order to earn a tour card for the next year.

Well, actually he did better than just landing around the #125 slot; he ended up No. 25 with over 0,000 in earnings in an abbreviated rookie year. The following year he won 4 times, including a much-talked about spectacular victory at the Masters, and before his 1st year anniversary as a pro, he was the No. 1 golfer in the world, the youngest ever at 21 years and 24 weeks. Previously it had been German Bernhard Langer at 29 years, 31 weeks in 1986.

He had a so-so year in 1998, winning only one tournament and dropping to No. 4 in the rankings prompting many so-called experts to dismiss him as a flash-in-the-pan. There was a lot of humble pie going around as he won 9 tournaments in 1999.

He’s had some dry spells, especially when he decided he needed to make adjustments in his swing, or change his driver. But all these, it turns out, were calculated risks, designed to improve a game that many thought could not stand any more improvement. He also drew flak for changing caddies (from Fluff Cowan to Steve Williams), changing his swing coach (from Butch Harmon to Hank Haney) and for changing his status from single to married (to sexy Swedish model and part-time nanny Elin Nordegren in October 2004).

Time and again he has silenced his critics. Tiger is the quintessential perfectionist who is never contented with just being the top dog (er…cat?). Asked where he thought he might still need to improve, he countered "I could always hit it better, chip it better, putt it better, think better."

He still sets his alarm clock everyday at 5 a.m., works out in the gym and describes his perfect day as being able to ski, surf and, get this… play golf.

An interviewer once asked Tiger about his competitive spirit and the golfer answered, "if you and I were playing cards, I would want to kick your butt." The interviewer clarified "you would want to win?" and Tiger answered, "No, I would want to kick your butt. There’s the difference." This is not good news for the rest of the professionals that he plays with. The tiger is in the reign, and his opponents are left gawking as he flashes thunder and lightning they just can’t explain.