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By John NestorPA SportsTicker Golf Editor
AUGUSTA, Georgia (Ticker) -- A Grand Slam may yet turn out to bea realistic goal for Tiger Woods. But it all starts with aquest for a green jacket.
Woods is the favorite as the golf calender finally flips tospring when The Masters begins Thursday at Augusta National.
Zach Johnson is the defending champion but is little more than asidenote so far.
Phil Mickelson has won two of the last four Masters but is beingasked more about Woods'' chances for pulling off the improbablefeat of winning all four majors than he is about contendinghimself.
Such is the furor that Woods has caused this season - both onthe course and off.
Woods helped fuel the Grand Slam hype by calling it "easilywithin reason." Never mind that fact that no one has ever wonall four professional majors in the same season. But the GrandSlam is no ordinary goal, and Woods is certainly no ordinaryplayer.
After all, he has won four majors in a row already in his career- all that is left to do is win them in the same season. He''salready won four times worldwide this season.
"The reason why I said that, you have to understand why I saidthat, because I''ve done it before; I''ve won all four in a row,"Woods said. "I think this is my 12th or 13th season out here,and nine of those years I''ve won five or more tournaments, sojust got to win the right four. That''s what it boils down to."
Easy for Woods to say, and he is a prohibitive favorite thisweek - but the execution is still far from a given.
Johnson showed their was more than one way to tame Augusta lastyear, laying up on all the par-5s and playing them in 11-underanyway en route to his first major victory.
Mickelson may or may not use two drivers again this season, buthas shown he is as comfortable here as anywhere else he plays.
Geoff Ogilvy has won a major and is playing some of the bestgolf on tour right now, with a win and a tie for second in hislast two starts.
In fact, a number of players are coming into the event withtheir games in good shape - and Woods'' status as a favoritewon''t mean a thing come Thursday morning.
"I don''t think it really matters if you''re favored or not orwhat people expect," Mickelson said. "I think how you''reperceived heading into the tournament really doesn''t matter."
What will matter is how a player putts and how the course isplaying. After rain for much of last week, this week got off toa cool and cloudy start with the course playing soft and long.
The weather has warmed up and the course has begun to dry out,which will shorten it to some degree and bring more players intothe mix.
Last year, Johnson won with a score more suited for a U.S. Openthan a Masters. Johnson finished at 1-over-par 289 whileMickelson won the year before at 9-under and Woods beat ChrisDiMarco in a playoff in 2005 after they both finished at12-under.
"Last year, that''s just the way the conditions were," Johnsonsaid. "It was playing long, with the wind and being cold, theball doesn''t go very far when it is cold.
"If it''s wet, the longer hitters have a substantial advantage.If it is dry, I feel like us modest to short hitters have achance."
Mickelson expects scores to trend to the higher side, withconditions playing a factor as well as the length of the course,which is 7,445 yards and par-72.
"I think that the scores may get a little bit higher and thelength is the biggest factor," Mickelson said. "This is themost complete test of golf, I believe, because it tests allareas of your game."
It is a test that all but one player will fail. But it is oneWoods must pass if he wants to collect his fifth green jacket,as well as keep the Grand Slam dream alive.
Not that he seems concerned with anything other than continuinghis run of success at Augusta National.
"I feel pretty good and I''ve had some pretty good results here,"Woods said. "Certain venues, if you look over my career, I''vehad some nice results, and certainly this is one of them."
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