ASKED recently if he could explain the secret of Tiger Woods's success, the reigning US Open champion, Geoff Ogilvy, didn't hang about. "He's better than us, " was the Australian's dead-pan reply.

When the howls of protest over another leading player's apparent willingness to concede the high ground to Woods subsided, common sense prevailed. Come to think of it, Ogilvy had a point.

His honesty might fly in the face of all the advice dispensed by the mind coaches who populate the game's margins, and it just might come back to haunt Ogilvy if he happens to find himself in the final match at Augusta next Sunday, but right now only a fool would disagree with his assessment.

After all, it is not so long since Woods took the parched links, as well as the rest of the British Open field, at Hoylake apart with a display of relentless precision that had Jack Nicklaus scratching his head in disbelief. And it's not so long since he surged imperiously clear on the final day to capture another USPGA Championship title.

In the meantime, the swing that he has seen fit to rebuild twice in the space of 10 years appears ominously fluent to the extent that the post mortem following his CA Championship victory at Doral last weekend didn't concern itself with the mere statistic of a 13th win at a WGC event, but more with the fact that he only won by two strokes.

As the Masters looms into view again, Woods is aiming for a fifth green jacket, a third major in a row, and a 13th title in all which will leave him five in arrears of Nicklaus's record. Maybe Ogilvy's "better than us" remark should have been qualified by "when he's at his best", but then the truth shouldn't really need any qualification. "I'm trying to win tournaments, " says Phil Mickelson, "and I know that's tougher when he [Woods] is in the field. But I love competing against him. It makes the majors that I do win all that more fulfilling."

There is hope for the opposition when those rare cracks in Woods's armour appear. At last year's Masters, he had Mickelson in his sights setting out on Sunday only to uncharacteristically lose his way on the greens. Woods is intimate with the slopes and subtleties of Augusta's highly demanding putting surfaces so, in the end, his stroke rather than his eye betrayed him. Thirty-three putts later, his only role was to fake a smile and help Mickelson into the jacket.

Then in the weeks following his father's death, he missed the cut at a major for the first time in his professional career and left a US Open vacuum which was ultimately filled by Ogilvy, after Mickelson, most notably, Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington had all imploded in the New York swelter.

And just a fortnight ago, he somehow contrived to cover the final nine at Bay Hill in a hacker's 43 strokes.

"Mental mistakes", he explained, before business as usual was resumed with the win at the CA Championship.

For the record, the last time he won a tournament immediately before the Masters was in 2001, and that year he triumphed at Augusta as well.

So, going into the first major of the season, Woods is the overwhelming favourite. Most bookmakers are offering him at 5-4 which is an astonishing price given the vagaries associated with winning arguably golf 's most coveted title, and with a water-infested course which penalises the marginally wayward shot like no other.

It's not as if legitimate challengers don't exist. Vijay Singh has the selfbelief, as well as an impressive Augusta record, but has not putted well enough to repeat his 2000 victory. On his day, Sergio Garcia is as consummate a ball-striker as Woods, however, he too is a liability on the greens.

Ogilvy and Henrik Stenson have the class, but lack the experience, Ernie Els has lost ground, while course specialists such as Retief Goosen and Jose Maria Olazabal will be eyeing no more than a high finish if Woods hits form.

As for a rejuvenated Charles Howell, who returns to his home town on the back of several excellent performances this season, nobody wants to win more than him after last year's pathetic 80-84 showing. However, that very level of expectation is likely to be Howell's undoing.

On the reasonable presumption that the world number one shows up with his A-game, Mickelson appears to be the only player who won't be buffeted by Woods's slipstream. If the exceptional eye-hand co-ordination and the imagination have never been in doubt, Mickelson now performs with the necessary stealth to win major championships.

It took time to absorb the lessons, but since his breakthrough at Augusta in 2004, he has won a major in each season, and also has two secondplace finishes at the US Open as well as a third at the British Open.

When Fred Couples three-putted from almost tap-in range at the 14th hole in last year's final round, the tournament was Mickelson's to lose.

The Mickelson of old would probably have squandered the chance, but the new model managed something that only Woods has accomplished in the present era. He made winning at Augusta look easy.

In fact, going on to the US Open, it was conceivable that he could even supplant Woods as the world's best player. In the end, he slammed his fingers in the car door at Winged Foot's final hole and spent the rest of the summer wondering what happened.

Woods, meanwhile, recovered from his father's passing and finished the season with nine wins including the British Open and the USPGA Championship.

Mickelson's decision to work on his driving and to shed a few pounds of flab appeared to have paid off when he won at Pebble Beach in early February and then lost to Howell in a play-off the following week at the Nissan Open. But the ultimate test of how he has dealt with the bitter disappointment of the US Open could come later this week.

The dream scenario is of a first major championship showdown between the two players who have owned the leasehold on Augusta since 2000. Woods, with that burning desire to add to his collection of titles, will be aware that he could follow in the footsteps of Ben Hogan who in 1953 won at Augusta, Oakmont and Carnoustie, which happen to be the venues for this year's first three majors. Mickelson, determined to quash speculation that he has been damaged by his failure at Winged Foot, has an opportunity to join Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Woods as the only players to win back-toback Masters.

Following modest performances at Bay Hill and Doral, Mickelson decided to skip the Houston Open to prepare at Augusta with his now customary intensity. In contrast to last year when he stormed to victory at the BellSouth Classic by a massive 13 strokes the week before the Masters, his current form is less predictable.

Not so Woods. Back in 1997 when he announced the dawn of a new golf era with his remarkable triumph at Augusta, Tommy Tolles, who finished third, offered his take on history in the making. "If Tiger's on top of his game, we'll all be playing for silver medals."

Tolles was right then, just as Geoff Ogilvy is right now.