AUGUSTA (Georgia), April 9: Tiger Woods’s quest for a Grand Slam begins — or ends — next week at Augusta National Golf Club.

With a victory in the Masters, the first major championship of the season, the superstar could set himself up for a run at golf’s holy grail — victories in all four major championships in one year.

Woods has already completed the so-called “Tiger Slam” of four major triumphs in a row, ending with his 2001 Masters victory.

With the swing changes he has painstakingly made in recent years now paying dividends, and with the benefit of experience garnered in 13 major triumphs, the 32-year-old American has spoken confidently of the possibility of achieving the elusive Grand Slam in 2008.

“For most of my career, I’ve won more than four tournaments in a year,” Woods said. “It’s just winning the right four.”

Woods is a proven winner at Augusta, where his four titles tie him with Arnold Palmer for second in career victories, two behind Jack Nicklaus.

Woods’s most recent start, at the World Golf Championships CA Championship at Doral last month, saw his streak of seven straight global victories come to an end.

That defeat did nothing to dent his status as the overwhelming favorite to win the Masters and make further inroads on Nicklaus’s record of 18 major triumphs.

Australian Geoff Ogilvy, who captured the victory at Doral, arrives at Augusta seeking to add another major crown to the US Open he captured in 2006.

While Woods took two weeks off heading into the Masters, world No 2 Phil Mickelson teed it up in the last US PGA Tour event before Augusta, the Houston Open, finishing in a share of 23rd, 10 strokes back of wire-to-wire winner Johnson Wagner.

—AFP