Woods did very little with his lead, making just three birdies on a ho-hum day. But nobody else even bothered to try to chase him down. Like little kids on the playground who’ve been beaten up for years, they handed over their lunch money without an argument the instant they saw him.

It’s easy to watch him on days like this and conclude he’s all the way back and he’s unbeatable.

But that’s nonsense. If you watched the Buick Open it was obvious why. Warwick Hills is not a U.S. Open or PGA Championship course. It’s possible to make up strokes — lots of strokes — on a cozy little club that’s made for bombs-away golf. But nobody with a chance to catch Woods did.

It’s as if they came to the course, saw Tiger’s name on top the leaderboard, and started checking out how much money second place paid.

Tiger is now 36-1 when he goes into Sunday with the solo lead. The only time he didn’t win in such a situation was 13 years ago. A lot of that is his incredible ability to focus on the task at hand when the pressure is highest and not succumb to the pressure.

But you also have to give discredit where it is due, and that’s to every one of the scores of players who have had a chance to put a number up for him to match and failed to do it.

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Tiger won’t get such an accommodating field in two weeks. The planet's best golfers will be at the PGA, and if there’s one thing they’ve noticed this year it’s that Tiger does not have his major-tournament game together. He’s got his Tour game running just fine, but he’s not driving it straight enough or putting consistently enough to win that 15th major.

That can change in one week. We all know that. We’ve seen it often enough before during a career unlike any other forged by a golfer unlike any other.

But it’s not going to change because a writer or commentator watched him hack it around Michigan and pronounced him back. We’ve tried that three times already this year, because that’s how many times Tiger won a tournament going into a major. We were wrong every time.

The only way it changes is when Woods proves it at a major.

His last chance to do that this year is in two weeks in Minnesota. Don’t bother telling him, though. He knows it.

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