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It sounds ridiculous, but perhaps Fred Funk is on to something. Straight-hitting Funk appeared to be well out of bounds when he acknowledged that he had made a friendly wager with a friend that Tiger Woods would win every tournament he played this year.

Perhaps that doesn't sound so silly now.

With Woods' victory Sunday at the Accenture Match Play Championship -- no easy tournament to capture -- the world's No. 1 player has won both of his PGA Tour starts this year, another in Dubai, his own Target World Challenge in December and the two previous PGA Tour events before that. Six in a row. Go back three more tournaments, and he has won eight of nine, his only "loss" a second-place finish to Phil Mickelson at the Deutsche Bank Championship in August.

"I mean, you can't compare era to era, but what he's doing is a joke," said Funk, who splits time between the Champions Tour and PGA Tour. "He doesn't beat himself, and who is going to beat him?"

Points well taken, Fred, but every tournament? That means Woods would break Byron Nelson's 1945 record of 11 straight victories. And he would become the first person to capture the modern Grand Slam, winning all four majors.

Before we get carried away, the W18 begins with Woods' expected next stop on his way to a perfect season.

Woods passed Arnold Palmer on the all-time PGA Tour win list with his 63rd victory and heads to the Arnold Palmer Invitational (March 13-16), where he has won four times. Slam dunk? Not necessarily. The Bay Hill Club has been a curious place for Woods. It's located just a few miles' drive from Woods' home, and he won the tournament four straight times from 2000 to 2003 -- and hasn't contended since.

He has not finished better than 20th at Bay Hill in four subsequent tournaments and shot just two rounds in the 60s since winning by 11 strokes in 2003. Last year, after opening with a 64, Woods shot 73-70-76 and tied for 22nd.

After that, you can figure on Woods' playing the CA Championship (he has won at Doral the past three years), the Masters (four green jackets), Wachovia (defending champion), Players Championship (T37th in '07, his worst of the year), Memorial (three-time winner), U.S. Open (six victories at Torrey Pines), AT&T National (tied for sixth last year), British Open (tied for third at Royal Birkdale 10 years ago), Bridgestone Invitational (four straight wins), PGA Championship (other than the Ryder Cup, played Oakland Hills only as an amateur), Deutsche Bank Championship (tied for second last year), BMW Championship (defending champion) and Tour Championship (defending champion).

Hmmmm.

"I don't think there's a course that's made that doesn't fit him because he just morphs his game into the courses," said Stewart Cink, who lost to Woods 8 and 7 in the Match Play final. "So I don't think there is a course that's going to present him with a real obstacle as far as just him being not a favorite or something."

After his victory Sunday, Woods told the television audience the reason behind his believing the Grand Slam "is easily within reason," as he said earlier this year. "You just have to win the right four," he said. "You have to get lucky. You have to have everything go your way. And I've won all four before. That's why I said that."

So, is there a danger of Woods peaking too soon? After all, the Masters is still seven weeks away, with Woods likely to play two more times before the first major championship arrives.

"I've got a plateful to work on," Woods said. "You can always get better. You can always keep improving. Golf is fluid. It's always evolving and always changing. You work hard on the short game, then you lose your long game. Work on your long game, then you don't putt well. You don't putt well, you work on your putting, all of a sudden you lose your long game.

"It's one of those things. You always have to keep a handle on every single facet of the game. And a lot of times you just don't feel like there's enough time in the day for that because there's so much that you have to do in order to improve."

It is apparent that Michelle Wie also has plenty to work on after she finished tied for last at the Fields Open, her first event of 2008. Coming off a tumultuous 2007 in which she battled injuries and confidence issues, Wie at least started the tournament by shooting 69, her first subpar score in recent memory. But she shot 78 in the final round and finished 20 shots behind winner Paula Creamer. It's a start, but Wie still appears to be miles from the player who just two years ago -- at age 16 -- contended in three of four LPGA major championships.

You might have noticed that Woody Austin is no longer wearing those, uh, how shall we say this … interesting golf shirts. The wild prints were provided by the makers of Tabasco, and Austin wore them with pride despite a considerable amount of ridiculing. Austin no longer is wearing those shirts, but it is not because he didn't want to.

"The Tabasco people were tired of y'all in the media ripping my shirts, so they got out of it," Austin explained. "They said they were tired of the negative publicity, so they got out. They told me I could wear Tabasco shirts but I couldn't wear those anymore."

And he's bummed.

"I loved them," Austin said. "Hey, I wore them since 1997. I wore them a long time. I've always said about whenever I got ridiculed or laughed about the shirts, it just shows my personality. But how can I be so bad off if -- I'm not the one showing up in lavender purple pants, and I don't show up with giant white belts and burgundy-colored shirts and fedora hats. I don't show up with a tie. I don't understand how a fun, colorful shirt is so bad as opposed to all that. I didn't quite understand it. I enjoyed it."

Sergio Garcia is searching for his touch on the greens. The Spanish star who lost in a playoff at the 2007 British Open has tried a variety of putting styles in recent months: left-hand low, belly putter, conventional. But he took it to a new level in the opening round of the Match Play Championship when he put two putters in his bag, conventional and belly, during his victory over John Senden.

"I went with the short one for the whole round," Garcia said. "That was my goal. As I said before, I just had a safety net just in case I didn't feel 100 percent with the short one. At the end of the day, I liked the things we worked on in my putting; they feel good. But I still have to get better at it."

Garcia took his 3-iron out of the bag to accommodate the extra putter. But in his second-round match against Boo Weekley, he had just one putter in the bag. And lost.

A few e-mailers wondered what the rule is concerning the use of more than one putter. So we asked Bernie Loehr, the USGA's manager for rules of golf and amateur status, to set the record straight.

"The player must start a stipulated round with not more than 14 clubs [see Rule 4-4a]," Loehr said. "The player may select any 14 conforming clubs. For example, the player could select five woods, eight irons and one putter, or he could select one wood, 10 irons and three putts, etc."

Three putters? Perhaps that's Sergio's next move.

It is never too early to start talking about the first major championship of the year, and Augusta National Golf Club is a mere seven weeks from opening its gates. Arguably the toughest ticket (or badge) in sports, the Masters has plenty of admirers. And a recent Turnkey Sports Poll does nothing to dispel the notion. More than 800 senior-level sports industry executives spanning professional and college sports were asked, "Which event is the most prestigious?" The results:

• Masters, 41.80 percent
• Super Bowl, 34.84 percent
• World Series, 6.15 percent
• Final Four, 4.92 percent
• Kentucky Derby, 4.51 percent
• Stanley Cup finals, 2.46 percent
• Indianapolis 500, 1.64 percent
• Daytona 500, 0.82 percent
• NBA Finals, 0.82 percent
• U.S. Open tennis, 0.41 percent
• Other, 0.41 percent
• No response/Not sure, 1.23 percent

The Masters does have its standards. So although chairman Billy Payne reinstated for this year's tournament the rule that offers an invitation to those who win a PGA Tour event after last year's Masters, there is a rather large asterisk attached to the provision. You must win a tournament that gives full FedEx Cup points. What that means is none of the Fall Series or opposite events comes with a Masters invitation. So the first victory of Brian Gay's career Sunday in Mexico does not mean a trip to Augusta. Unless he manages to be ranked among the top 50 in the world through the CA Championship in four weeks, of course.

Former major champion Justin Leonard all but assured himself a spot in the Masters field by finishing fourth at the Match Play Championship. Leonard won the Texas Open this past fall -- remember, it doesn't come with an automatic invitation -- then narrowly missed out on an invitation when he finished 32nd on the season-ending money list. The top 30 get in. But Leonard, who was 52nd in the world before the Match Play, moved up to 36th. Colin Montgomerie, who won two matches at the tournament, also inched closer to a Masters invite, jumping from 62nd to 54th. They will need to move into the top 50 by the end of March.

Leading Robert Allenby 1-up through 17 holes of his first-round match, defending champion Henrik Stenson hit the kind of shot you don't normally see from a professional golfer. It was a pull-hook with a 3-wood off the 18th tee that went left of left. It was so bad that television commentator Nick Faldo -- who likely will have Stenson on his European Ryder Cup team this fall -- said it looked like something we normally might see at a Wednesday pro-am. That poor tee shot came after a chip shot at the 15th hole that came rolling back toward Stenson's feet and a tee shot on the 16th that was unplayable. Then again, who are we to make fun? Stenson made it to the semifinals, where he lost to Woods. He then defeated Leonard in the consolation match to earn $575,000.

Montgomerie has played on eight straight European Ryder Cup teams and would dearly love to play on a ninth. The Scotsman, at age 44, still has the game and guile to play an important role, especially on a team that could have several rookies. Still, he was taking no chances at the Match Play Championship, where he won two matches, including an upset of Jim Furyk in the first round.

Monty was 1-down with five holes remaining against Charles Howell III, but managed to make three birdies coming in for the victory, and likened it to a Ryder Cup feeling.

"Yeah, I just said that to the Golf Channel because I knew that [captain] Nick Faldo was in the booth," Montgomerie said. "Yeah, Charles had just birdied the 11th to go to all square, and my caddie said, 'Right, Mr. Montgomerie, it's Ryder Cup mode.' And I was 4-under from then on in, so that was a good effort."

The Match Play Championship is a nice diversion from the usual stroke-play tournaments that dot the schedule. But it is rife with potential problems, not the least of which is the fact that you could have a weekend full of no-name players. Look how close the Match Play was to losing Woods on Wednesday, before he rallied from 3-down with five holes to play and ended up winning the match -- and then five more.

How about this?

Why not borrow from the top amateur events and have stroke-play qualifying. Expand the field to 128 players, play 36 holes of stroke play Wednesday-Thursday to whittle the field to 16 players, with ties played off. From there, go with the same format used now, with the sweet 16 on Friday, the quarterfinals and semifinals on Saturday, and the final on Sunday. Also, allow the losers of the sweet 16 matches to go into a consolation bracket so there are more players to watch on the weekend.

Courtesy of the PGA Tour's communications department, here are some numbers that show just how important it is for a player's game to shave a stroke here or there.

"Over the past five years, the average top-70 player has been about 0.75 strokes better than the average PGA Tour player. A top-30 player is about 0.50 strokes better than a typical top-70 player. A typical top-10 player is about 0.50 strokes better than a top-30 player. Tiger Woods is about one full stroke better than the average top-10 player, meaning he is, on average, about two strokes better than a random top-70 player."

Ah, so that explains it!

The PGA Tour Policy Board is scheduled to meet at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., this week and it is believed that this year's controversial new cut rule will be scrapped or at least amended. In an effort to speed up play on the weekends and make the field size more manageable, the policy board enacted a new rule in the fall that kept the 36-hole cut at the top 70 players and ties but reduced the number who would play on the weekend if that number swelled to more than 78 players. In that case, the playing cut would go to the next number nearest 70, with those on the cut number being credited with having made a cut and paid last-place money, but sent home.

The new rule caused something of a firestorm when it first kicked in at the Sony Open, where 87 players made the cut. It meant 18 players were credited with a made cut but could not keep playing. A similar situation occurred at the Buick Open.

Among possibilities being considered are going back to the old rule, making the cut the top 65 players and ties, and having the top 70 and ties make the cut, with another cut after Saturday's round.

Of course, if the PGA Tour really wants to do something about the glacial pace of play, it will consider adopting the LPGA Tour's far more stringent policy. The PGA Tour gives players a warning if they are too slow, then places them on the clock; LPGA players get no such warning. And the time they have to play a shot is shorter.

The first violation of the LPGA policy results in a 2-stroke penalty, with the second meaning disqualification. On the PGA Tour, after a player is put on the clock, if there is another slow time, he is given a 1-stroke penalty and a $5,000 fine -- although you almost never hear of such a penalty.

Angela Park got a 2-stroke penalty at the LPGA's season-opening SBS Open, and it cost her dearly. At the time, she was just one stroke out of the lead. She ended up finishing tied for fifth instead of second alone, a difference of more than $40,000.

Park protested afterward, saying the penalty was unfair. But just the thought that it could happen -- and cost somebody that kind of money or a tournament -- is a pretty good incentive to get moving.

Woods did not discount the idea after capturing the Match Play trophy.

"That's my intent," he said. "That's why you play. If you don't believe you can win an event, don't show up."

"I think maybe we ought to slice him open to see what's inside there. Maybe nuts and bolts."

--Stewart Cink, when asked about the play of Woods after losing to him 8 and 7 in the Match Play Championship final

Bob Harig is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com. ESPN.com's Jason Sobel contributed to this story.