Our obsession as humans with streaks of uninterrupted success or failure reveals a disappointingly slavish devotion to the Gregorian calendar. For example, we had to invent the “Tiger Slam” for Tiger Woods’ amazing achievement of winning four consecutive major tournaments because the ancient Romans thought January 1 would be a nifty place to start the new year.

However, Tiger’s working on a streak now that impresses on its own merits, not requiring the logical hoop-jumping. He is a mere two strokes back from the lead at Doral after one round this week. If he wins, it will be the sixth straight victory for Woods, stretching back to last season’s Buick Championship and not counting his Target World Challenge win last winter.

Tiger has been deferential to Byron Nelson’s streak of 11 straight in 1945, stating, “What Byron accomplished, that goes down as one of the great years in the history of our sport.” However, there are mitigating circumstances to Nelson’s streak that knock it down a few pegs in history’s eyes. Is there reason to believe a Tiger win this weekend will extend the more impressive feat?

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