More - yes more - still to come

Tour Scene: Tiger Woods is a more ominous presence than ever right now, and - for those living in his shadow - the really frightening part is the man himself believes he is still a work in progress.

In collecting the 48th title of his career on the US Tour by successfully defending the Ford Championship at Doral on Sunday, taking his career earnings to $57.8 million, the world number one's reaction was to indicate he isn't yet the finished article.

With thoughts already switching to next month's first major of the season, the US Masters at Augusta National, Woods remarked of the current state of his game in preparation for his defence of that title: "I've still got some work to do. That's the beauty of it, that I can be better tomorrow than I am today. The checklist is certainly smaller, but still, I've got some work to do."

Woods has experienced a whirlwind start to the season which has seen him win the Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour as well as defend the Buick Invitational and the Ford Championship on his home circuit. In finishing a stroke ahead of David Toms and rookie Camilo Villegas at Doral, Woods reaffirmed his position as the ultimate closer of a tournament. It was the 34th time from 37 events that he has won after carrying the 54-hole lead into the final round.

For this week, at least, Woods won't have his fellow tour players looking over their shoulders before a tee-shot is struck in anger. Woods is missing out on the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, where Padraig Harrington is the defending champion, but is expected to reappear at the Bay Hill Invitational in a fortnight's time prior to the Players Championship at Sawgrass.

So, what is it that Woods feels requires extra work in conjunction with his coach Hank Hainey? "The whole swing, basically," he suggested. "Just keep refining what we're working on and making sure it's where I can go out there and hit shots and trust it and flight the ball correctly either way, up, down or right to left, left to right. I want to make sure I can do that on call."

Even so, Woods believes he is a better player than he was this time last year when he also made a strong start to the season. "I'm able to hit so many more golf shots now than I could last year at this time, and on top of that, I could fix it while I'm out there playing. Last year at this time, I had so many things I was still working on that I had a hard time fixing it because if I hit one shot, it could be three, four different things I needed to work on to try and rectify that shot. . . . now, I know exactly what to do and I can rectify it on the very next shot.

"I would have had to have hit different shots (last year). I would have had to over-shape the golf ball in order to get in the clubhouse. I couldn't find finite shots and just work the ball a few feet left or right or up and down. I didn't have that ability before," he said.

"If I hit a couple of bad shots, I feel like it's not the end of the world. I can fix it and I can move on and I can still post a really good number."

He continued: "All I can do is beat whoever is in the field, and that's it. I'm trying to do my part by putting myself there and winning tournaments and trying to improve each and every week and each and every year. It's fun to see that all of the hard work that Hank and I have been putting into it is starting to pay off where I'm able to play consistently day after day."

Woods has now stretched his points average over world number two Vijay Singh to 9.15, while Villegas has broken into the world's top-100 for the first time, in 95th position. The Colombian, who has already secured his tour card for next year, is among those in the field at the Honda where Harrington - who beat Singh and Joe Ogilvie in a play-off a year ago - and Graeme McDowell, yet to make a cut in a stroke play event in the States this season, are part of a strong European contingent.

This week's action on the European Tour takes place in the Far East where England's Nick Dougherty, who has three top-10 finishes in his first six events, defends his Singapore Masters title. Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy, Michael Hoey and David Higgins are in the field.

European Tour Order of Merit (Irish positions): 14th P Harrington (three tournaments played) €402,264.45; 44th D Clarke (3) €150,183.48; 51st D McGrane (9) €131,817.74; 58th P McGinley (3) €113,199.16; 61st P Lawrie (7) €110,151.92; 80th G McDowell (2) €83,489.90; 99th G Murphy (8) €53,571.94; 116th D Higgins (6) €38,280.82