Woods still has a grand vision

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- He wore all black, including a black cap, but Tiger Woods also wore a sunny disposition Tuesday at Augusta National Golf Club, and it seemed to fit him well.

Countdown to the 72nd Masters has begun in earnest, and Thursday’s first round probably can’t come soon enough for Woods. He’s already tapering off his pre-tournament work.

Woods limited his practice round to nine holes and was done well before noon. His plan for today doesn’t even include looking at the course, so Woods will restrict his work to the driving range.

As far as preparations go, Woods seems to have had his fill, and he won’t have long to wait to see if he’s going to be able to live up to his words.

Remember? Winning all four majors this year is “well within reason.”

That’s what Woods said a couple of months ago.

That’s what Woods reiterated in a lively question-and-answer session Tuesday.

Woods got handed the big question early, whether anything has happened so far to dissuade him from his opinion.

“No,” he answered without hesitation. “I mean, the reason why I said that, you have to understand why I said that -- because I’ve done it before. I’ve won all four in a row.”

In 2000, Woods won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the British Open at St. Andrews and the PGA Championship at Valhalla, then won the 2001 Masters to hold all four major championship titles at the same time.

“Majority of my career . . . nine of those years I’ve won five or more tournaments, so just got to win the right four. That’s what it boils down to.”

Phil Mickelson said that he agreed with Woods, that winning all four majors in one year is possible.

“It’s going to be a tough feat,” he said Tuesday. “It’s certainly a possibility. And he has already won four majors in a row, so it’s not an impossible feat.

“It’s been done by Bobby Jones a long time ago, certainly not with the professional majors. But I think it’s doable. I just don’t know what the odds will be.”

Drawing a line that connects Woods to major championships is a popular exercise on the PGA Tour, mainly because he has made it such a straight one. When Woods successfully defended his PGA Championship last year at Southern Hills, his collection of major titles reached 13, five fewer than Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18.

Woods is widely regarded as having a better chance of surpassing Nicklaus’ total than winning all four majors in one year. But Zach Johnson, the defending Masters champion, says Woods is a unique player, easily capable of the unexpected, or even blurring the line of what’s seen as impossible.

“He says he can get better, which is absolutely scary,” Johnson said Tuesday. “I mean, I know I can. It’s encouraging. Makes you want to work harder. He’s a freak, in a good way.

“He’s won every major and won every major multiple times. So I think everybody would probably agree that it seems like his form, middle to the end of last year and certainly the beginning of this year, you can kind of compare it to 2001, that time period, and that was scary. So he’s still as scary as ever.

“Yeah, that discussion is going to come up a lot, especially around him. But you know, I don’t know how hard it is for him, but that seems like a very hard feat.”

And if it’s going to start, that place is Augusta National, which is playing long, difficult and unbending in the practice rounds.

Moist and cool conditions have not only made the course play longer than its 7,445 yards because the ball doesn’t roll on the fairway, but the greens have been softened. Woods doesn’t expect them to remain that way.

Woods, who will play the first two rounds with U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera and Stuart Appleby, says being successful on the greens is essential.

“You can’t putt poorly here and win,” he said. “Now, you have to drive the ball well in order to win here. Before, you could spray it all over the place and it didn’t matter.

“It’s playing a lot more penal off the tee, but the greens are still the same. The greens are still just as penal.”

The verdict on just how penalty-laden they actually play is now only a day away.

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com