FanHouse CamiloVillegas

He wins. A lot. No matter the tournament, big or faux, he will probably win it, and smile big with the trophy. Monday, in New York, Tiger Woods added another trophy to his case -- the Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge, a skins game Notah, a former teammate of Tiger's, put together to help benefit the Oneida Indian Nation of New York and San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians of California.

He won on Monday, and made it a little dramatic. What, you'd expect it to be anything less? Trailing Camilo Villegas in the skins category, after Villegas made a birdie on 14 worth $180,000, Woods went on to win the next three holes, pulling in $230,000 and five skins for the day. Game over. Tiger won. Tip your waitress ... again.

Two weeks ago, Tiger Woods was the clear favorite to win the PGA Championship. He headed to Hazeltine with back-to-back wins, his driving accuracy had gone from abysmal to passable, and his short game was impeccable.

But like the three previous majors, he couldn't put it together for four rounds, Y.E. Yang could, and in the days since we've been subjected to every variation of "It's clear that Tiger choked and his latest collapse signals the beginning of the end of his once-great reign." Or some such.

Never mind that Woods has five wins this year, or that after his Buick Open triumph in early August he told the media that his consistency this season, after taking eight months off to recover from reconstructive knee surgery, was "one of the things I'm probably most proud of."

The list of players, both young and old, who would challenge Tiger Woods is a lengthy one. Thirteen years after Woods turned pro, we're still waiting.

Phil Mickelson has always been in the conversation, but names like Charles Howell and David Gossett were gone faster than they came. Sergio Garcia was the clear choice in the late '90s and early '00s, but 10 years after bursting on the scene at the '99 PGA Championship as a 19-year-old phenom, he's still searching for his first major victory. Real life sidetracked David Duval, also a legit threat to Tiger's legacy around the time of Garcia's emergence.

And now, Camilo Villegas, Anthony Kim and Andreas Romero are often mentioned as likely candidates to unseat the world's best player.

Camilo Villegas is currently 4-under, good for second place at the Open Championship, one shot behind 59-year-old Tom Watson. It's early in Round 1 (at least on the East Coast; it's mid-afternoon in Scotland), but Villegas' Thursday 66 is noteworthy because, well, I picked him to win this week.

Actually, Camilo was my non-Tiger choice, but that's only because I'm not contrarian enough to pick against the best player in the galaxy when he's in the field. Whatever, as far as I'm concerned, it counts.

While Tiger Woods struggled his way around Turnberry, Villegas is in the clubhouse after an impressive round that started slowly -- a bogey on No. 1 -- and then got rolling. He went out in even par, but closed with three consecutive birdies, four in his final five holes.

The argument has been tossed around since Tiger Woods fist-pumped his way to a 12-shot victory at Augusta National in 1997. Who is the best golfer to ever play the game, Tiger or Jack Nicklaus?

We aren't necessarily going to get the answer this Wednesday at Muirfield Village, but we will get to see Tiger and Jack compete against each other for just the second time ever in the same group. Woods agreed to compete in the Wednesday Skins Game at the Memorial Tournament with Jack, Stewart Cink and Kenny Perry. The other skins group will include Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Camilo Villegas and Padraig Harrington.

TPC Sawgrass is supposed to be brutal. It's supposed to be nasty. For heaven's sake, it's supposed to be the fifth major! Well, unless the fairways and greens are soft and the wind doesn't blow.

Ben Crane, who started on the back nine in the first round of the Players Championship, turned at 3-under 33, but went on a tear from there, making five birdies in six holes on his way to a 7-under 65 and the first-round lead. Crane, who hasn't won on tour since 2005, noted after his round that the greens were perfect, "like putting on the hood of your car," and the low scores the first day indicated that.

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Tiger would probably be the first to admit that Friday wasn't Tiger Woods' A game. In fact, it might not even have been his B or C game, but Tiger does what Tiger does, and a second round 72 has the top golfer in the world one shot back of the leaders and still very much in the hunt at Quail Hollow.

Bubba Watson and Retief Goosen are both leading at 8-under. The lengthy left-hander Goosen matched Tiger's 30 on the front nine from a day ago, and Retief wound up carding his second straight 68. Watson's 65 on Friday included eight birdies, three bogeys and an eagle. Goosen, meanwhile, has made at least five birdies in each of his first two rounds.

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Tiger Woods has a history of slow starts at the Masters. In 1997, his first trip to Augusta National as a professional, he fired an opening-round 70 that included a front-nine 40. He won by 12 shots.

The Masters' television coverage is still an hour off, but thanks to the wonders of Al Gore's magnificent invention, I've been watching groups make their way around Amen Corner since this morning. Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Camilo Villegas just navigated the three-hole stretch at even par, 1-over and 1-over, respectively.

Sebastian Junger wrote a non-fiction book about a 1991 Halloween Nor'easter that was, as you probably know, known as "The Perfect Storm". Play just started at Augusta National in the 2009 Masters (the gentleman above starts his day at 1:52 PM ET), but the story lines are quickly adding up to what could quickly become a Perfect Storm at Augusta. In fact, could the story lines at this year's Masters make it the most memorable Masters ever? Let's dive in.