USPGA CHAMPIONSHIP COUNTDOWN: SCARY THOUGHT, that there could be two Tiger Woods'; as if one, with five wins on tour already this season, isn't enough to put fear into the hearts of most players teeing up in this week's USPGA Championship at Hazeltine National.

Yesterday, in his pre-championship press conference, Woods – with 14 majors on his CV – was asked the kind of mystical question that usually grabs his attention and earns a flash of brilliant white teeth. “If you went out tomorrow and played your 2000 self in 18-hole matchplay, who wins and why?”

The inquisitor was referring to the 2000 season when Woods was totally and utterly dominant, a year when he won nine times – including three majors – and reached a standard out of the reach of other mortals.

Woods, a player who only returned to competition in the spring after a nine-month lay-off due to reconstructive knee surgery, responded: “I would win now . . . I know how to manage my game a hell of a lot better than I did back then, just understanding how to get the ball around. I have so many more golf shots, that’s just experience. That’s nine more years of learning how to play and how to manage my game around a golf course.”

This year, of course, Woods has been the dominant player. He has won Arnie’s tournament, the Bay Hill Invitational. He has won Jack’s tournament, the Memorial. He’s won his own tournament, the ATT National. He’s bounced back from a missed cut in the British Open with wins in his last two tournaments, the Buick Open and the Bridgestone Invitational. Five wins.

Yet, Woods has failed to win a major this season and comes here searching for the missing piece of the jigsaw. For sure, he believes he can rectify matters.

“I feel as if I made some pretty good strides since the British Open . . . . I really hit it good last week (in Akron) and hopefully I can improve on that and carry that over into this week.”

Does he need to win the PGA to make it a great season?

“Well, it’s been a great year either way. For me to come back (after surgery) and play as well as I’ve done, I don’t think any of us would have thought I could have won this many events this year . . . . I’ve said in the past (it wouldn’t be a great year without a major), but I didn’t have ACL reconstruction either. It usually takes a while for an athlete to come back and most of the guys who have had it in our sport have not gone on to have the years I’ve had this year. I’m very proud of not only winning the golf tournament, but how consistent I’ve played.”

So far this season, the majors have proved elusive. He was tied-sixth in the US Masters – at a time of the season where he reckoned his game was “hit or miss” – and was also tied-sixth in the US Open, before missing out on the weekend at Turnberry.

But, as he has gotten fitter and stronger and worked as he’d like on his game, the aura of invincibility has returned.

Woods, who played 18 holes on Monday and again yesterday, won’t see the course again until he tees up with Pádraig Harrington and Rich Beem in tomorrow’s first round. Having played – and won – for the past two weeks, Woods has decided that he deserves a day off – today – and aims to be sharp and refreshed when he sets out in quest of a fifth PGA title and 15th major.

“The golf course is in phenomenal shape, a heck of a lot tougher than what we played in 2002. It’s going to be a great test. You’re going to have to hit the ball, especially if they play it all the way back. This is a pretty long golf course.”

Although his focus is on the PGA, Woods also took time out to push for golf’s inclusion in the Olympics with the International Olympic Committee set to announce their preferred choices tomorrow for inclusion in 2016. “I think that golf is a truly global sport and I think it should have been in the Olympics a while ago. If it does get in, it would be great for golf and especially for some of the smaller countries now emerging in golf.”

For now, though, the Olympics is something that might happen down the road. For the next few days, Woods has his mind on one thing only; the pursuit of a 15th major as he chases down Jack Nicklaus’s record 18.