Woods has the world on a string

MARANA, Ariz. -- What’s left for Tiger Woods? Win every tournament he plays? He’s off to a perfect start this year, after his Sunday stroll-in-the-desert wipeout of Stewart Cink that won the $8-million Accenture Match Play Championship.

The proportions of Woods’ 8-and-7 victory are historic, but this is ground he covers so casually these days. It’s not only the widest margin of final-round victory in the 10-year history of the tournament, it’s also his fourth straight PGA Tour victory, his fifth in a row worldwide and sixth in a row if you include the Target World Challenge.

The greatest show in golf shows no signs of ending early.

“I think this certainly is the best stretch I’ve ever played,” Woods said.

Woods has jump-started the year with victories in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines, the Dubai Desert Classic and now in this World Golf Championship event at the Gallery Golf Club here in the foothills north of Tucson.

And if his latest conquest was all about making a statement, then Woods was at his eloquent best. He won all six matches against the strongest field you could assemble, the top 64 players in the world rankings.

Woods spent Sunday as the bully of the beach, kicking sand in Cink’s face. It was hardly fair, even though Cink tried his best.

“I spent this whole week demoralizing my opponents because I was playing really well and they just didn’t have a chance,” Cink said. “And today I was the one who felt demoralized because I didn’t have a chance. So I guess maybe I deserved it.”

Woods was 12 under over the 29 holes, made 14 birdies and wound up winning this tournament for the third time.

In all, he played 117 holes and made a total of 47 birdies and two eagles. He never trailed over the last 62 holes.

And Woods did it all with customary aplomb, forced to come back from being three holes down with five to play in his first match against J.B. Holmes, withstanding 10 birdies by Aaron Baddeley in the third round and edging Henrik Stenson after they were even through 17 holes of their semifinal.

“They told me I played [117] holes this week,” Woods said. “I could have easily played 16 and gone home. That’s the fickleness of match play. And if I didn’t make a run against J.B., I wouldn’t be here.”

Instead, Woods turned the 10-year anniversary of World Golf Championship events into his own private celebration. The WGC tournaments are known and respected for elite international fields and top-flight caliber of competition, and Woods has won 15 of the 26 times he’s played these events.

If the WGC tournaments attract the best players and Woods has won more than half of the tournaments, what does that say about the gap between him and every other player?

“I don’t know how to answer that one,” he said. “All I know is I love to play against the best players in the world. I love winning and I hate losing.”

The nearly $19.9 million Woods has won in WGC events alone would rank him 17th on the PGA Tour’s all-time money list.

But as dominant as these numbers appear, there are others that are equally impressive.

Woods now has 84 worldwide victories and 63 on the PGA Tour, one more than Arnold Palmer and one short of Ben Hogan for third on the all-time list.

The all-time leader in earnings, Woods increased his total to $96.3 million worldwide and $78.8 million on the PGA Tour.

In his three victories so far this year, Woods made $936,000 at Torrey Pines, $416,660 at the European Tour event at Dubai and $1.35 million Sunday at the Gallery Golf Club. Cink earned $800,000 for his runner-up finish.

Woods is 31-6 in this match-play tournament and 37-9-1 in match-play events as a pro, including the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.

He wasted no time moving in front of Cink in the first 18 holes Sunday morning. He started with back-to-back birdies, then overpowered the 638-yard No. 5 with an up-and-down birdie from off the green. Woods took a 3-up lead with a birdie at the short par-four No. 7, missing the green to the right with his drive, then chipping on to seven feet and making the putt.

“I put a lot of heat on Stewie,” Woods said. “I never really let him get back in the match.”

Woods’ lead was 4 up at the turn and he held the same margin after the 18th, where the hole was halved as both players made bogeys. It was Woods’ first bogey in 50 holes, since the first hole in Saturday morning’s match against K.J. Choi.

The situation didn’t improve for Cink in the afternoon. On the 20th hole, Woods knocked his approach to two feet and made the birdie for a 5-up lead. It was 6 up after the 24th hole when Woods rolled in a 20-foot birdie at No. 6 and then 7 up when he sank an eight-footer to birdie No. 7.

Woods put Cink on the ropes when he went 8 up through 26 holes, landing his tee shot within seven feet of the flagstick at the par-three No. 8, then making the putt for another birdie.

Cink got one hole back with a 36-foot eagle putt at the 28th hole, but Woods ended it at No. 11, where he spun a wedge onto the green and back within two feet of the pin. Cink conceded Woods that final birdie, then missed a 10-footer that would have prolonged the match.

It would have been pointless.

This is the third time Woods has held a winning streak of at least four tournaments. Among active players, only Vijay Singh and David Duval have won at least three consecutive tournaments.

Woods had a stretch of seven consecutive PGA Tour victories end here last year when Nick O’Hern beat him in the third round. He also had a six-tournament winning streak end at the 2000 Buick Invitational, where Phil Mickelson won and Woods tied for second.

Next for Woods is the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in three weeks, then the CA Championship at Doral a week later. But can he keep winning every single time he tees it up?

“That’s my intent,” Woods said. “That’s why you play. If you don’t believe you can win an event, don’t show up.”

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In the consolation match, Henrik Stenson won five of the first six holes and held on for a 3-and-2 victory over Justin Leonard. Stenson, who won despite playing the last 10 holes in one over par, earned $575,000. Leonard made $400,000.

“If I was to make the decisions on this championship, I think probably Justin and I would have been happy not to play today and take a tie for third place,” Stenson said. “It is hard to mobilize the energy for a match for third place.”

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com