A relative newcomer to the Tiger Woods Traveling Road Show raised his hand to ask His Unequaledness a question during the weekly media scrum at the Buick Invitational in January.

"Have you ever felt as confident going into a season as you do right now?"

Woods grinned and simply said, "Yeah."

"When was that?" came the follow-up question.

Woods smiled again. "A few times. I've had a few good ones in my career."

That's like saying Elvis had a few hit records. Since his arrival on the PGA Tour in 1996, Woods has reconstructed the meaning of good. Now, even by his own celestial standards, Woods is aiming for the top.

He's talking Grand Slam.

Not holding all four major championships at one time; he did that in 2000-01. This time Woods is talking about winning all four majors in the same calendar year. On his website, Woods mentioned that it was "within reason."

"If you put it all together, have luck on your side, all the stars line up, and it certainly is possible," Woods said. "A couple years ago I came within four shots of at least being in a playoff — winning or being in a playoff on all four. So, yeah, I think it is possible."

Sold, said PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem. "I don't know if anybody is going to argue with him," he said. "I don't know where that feat would be in his tier of objectives, but if he could maintain during the season the way he finished up last year, he's going to be very tough to beat, I would guess."

Woods has been without equal for the last nine months. He's won eight of the last 10 official tournaments in which he's competed. He had won six straight before finishing fifth at the CA Championships at Doral last month, which ended the silly notion of an undefeated season.

"I don't have time to tell you what I think about Tiger and his golf, because right now he has got it by the neck and he's choking it," said Arnold Palmer.

But the Grand Slam, the notion that Palmer popularized in 1960, has been accomplished only once, that by Augusta National founder Bobby Jones in 1930 when he won the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, British Open and British Am. Ben Hogan won the first three legs in 1953, but couldn't compete in the PGA Championship because it overlapped the British Open. Jack Nicklaus won the first two legs in 1972, but was beaten by Lee Trevino by one shot at the British Open.

"It was always my goal to start every year. Every time I started preparing in January for the Masters, that's what I looked at," Nicklaus said. "I think Tiger looks at it much the same way; Tiger's probably even more because he has held all four of them at one time. So that's a pretty lofty goal. But for a guy like Tiger, I wouldn't put it past him."

And while the number of wins is important to Tiger — his victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational gave him 54 to tie Ben Hogan for third place all-time — he's really all about the majors.

"You can win every tournament for the entire year, but if you go 0-for-4 in the year in the major championships, it's just — you don't really get remembered for number of wins in a career," Woods said. "It's the number of wins in major championships. Those are the biggest events. If you win one major a year, it turns a good year into a great year. That's one of the reasons why I think we as players put so much emphasis on those major championships. They mean so much, and not only to us, but in the historical sense."

Majors courses tailor-made for Tiger?

It would be difficult to identify a different set of courses on this year's major championship rota that are better suited to Woods.

Masters, Augusta National: He's already won four Masters (1997, 2001, 2002, 2005) and finished among the top five on three other occasions, including last year's tie for second. He's not finished higher than 22nd there since turning professional.

U.S. Open, Torrey Pines, LaJolla, Calif.: He just won the Buick Invitational for the fourth straight year at Torrey Pines. Granted, the USGA will lay a few guillotines out there, but those devices are more like to trap lesser players instead of the big game.

British Open, Royal Birkdale: Mark O'Meara won the last time at this venue, with Woods missing a playoff by one slim shot.

PGA Championship, Oakland Hills: The course hasn't hosted the PGA since 1979, when then-4-year-old Woods failed to qualify. It was the site of the U.S. Open in 1996, when Woods tied for 82nd. He was on the 2004 Ryder Cup team that competed at Oakland Hills and went 2-3, winning in singles and losing twice when paired with Phil Mickelson.