A seventh straight win puts Tiger Woods a step closer to the Tour's most hallowed record

	For the fifth time Tiger Woods kicked off his season with a win. Robert Beck/SI

Tiger Woods arrived at last week's Buick Invitational nearly four months removed from his last PGA Tour start, the 2006 American Express Championship, at which he prevailed, running his winning streak to six consecutive Tour events. During his so-called off-season Woods finished second at a pair of tournaments in Asia, announced that his wife was pregnant, birthed a course-design business, jetted to Dubai to cut the ribbon on his first project, embarked on a whistle-stop tour across the western U.S. to promote Nike's new driver, went skiing in Colorado and celebrated his 31st birthday. But the more things change, the more Tiger stays the same.

As those in front of him at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif., bowed to the inevitable, Woods won his season debut to stretch his streak to seven straight.

Woods's performance at the Buick was not as dominant as the eight-stroke victory at the AmEx, as emotional as his win at last year's British Open or as suspenseful as the overtime thriller at the Bridgestone Invitational last August, but with Woods only the details and the datelines change, not the result. Woods's winning streak is now second alltime to Byron Nelson's legendary run of 11 in a row in 1945. Certain purists (and killjoys) have taken to disparaging the streak because Woods has not won every tournament he has entered since the roll began last July; the runner-up finishes in Asia were preceded by a loss to Shaun Micheel in the first round of September's World Match Play Championship, a European tour event held outside London two weeks before the AmEx. "You have to clarify it," says Woods. "It's not a worldwide streak. It's a PGA Tour streak." Woods's colleagues are unmoved by any technicalities.

"I don't think [not winning overseas] diminishes the streak whatsoever," Charles Howell said on Sunday evening after finishing in second place at the Buick, two strokes back of Woods, his final-round playing partner. "To win seven in a row.... I'd cut my arm off to win a damn 'nother one."

Howell, 27, now has 10 career runner-up finishes against one victory. Woods's astonishing numbers: 55 victories, 20 seconds. Howell and Woods are close friends, Presidents Cup playing partners who have vacationed together with their wives. Howell does not try to disguise his awe for Woods. They have played dozens of rounds together at Orlando's Isleworth Country Club, where both are members, and Howell readily admits he has never beaten Woods. But, Howell says, he eagerly writes down every scrap of advice Woods offers, with a special emphasis on distance control with the short irons. "You're talking about probably the greatest player of all time, and I'm lucky he's my friend," he says.

Senior writer Alan Shipnuck has covered golf for Sports Illustrated since 1994 and frequently contributes to SI.com.