Tiger with the spoils of victory. (Getty Images)

Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent

Not so long ago Vijay Singh was world number one and USPGA champion, Phil Mickelson Masters champion, Retief Goosen US Open champion and Todd Hamilton the holder of the Open.

As for Tiger Woods, well you had to wonder what had become of him.

He was spraying drives left and right, he had barely figured at any of the four 2004 majors and in the Ryder Cup he was part of an American team hammered by a bigger margin than ever before.

Now look at him.

Only the performance of a lifetime from Michael Campbell has prevented Woods going to the USPGA Championship next month in search of golf's first pure Grand Slam of all four majors in one season.

He captured his fourth Masters crown at Augusta in April and now he has returned home from St Andrews with the Open's Claret Jug - as he did in 2000.

Each visit to the Home of Golf for the 29-year-old American has resulted in a real milestone in his career.

Five years ago not only did he triumph by a massive eight strokes, but he did so with a major record 19-under-par total and became the youngest player to lift all four major trophies in his career.

This time he romped to a five-shot success at 14 under and has become the only player under 30 to win all four major trophies twice.

What remains the most staggering fact about Woods' career so far, though, is that on the 10 occasions he has held either the outright lead or a share of it going into the final day he has converted all 10 into victories.

So where does that leave the rest?

Going into the Masters just three months ago all the talk was of the "Fab Four" of Singh, Woods, Mickelson and Ernie Els. Or the "Big Five" when you threw double US Open champion Goosen into the mix.

Now golf has just one dominant player again.

With his 10 majors Woods has more than the other four put together - Singh three, Els three, Goosen two and Mickelson one. And he is comfortably the youngest of the quintet.

Once more, as was the case when he completed his "Tiger Slam" of all four majors across two seasons four years ago, the comparisons are not being drawn between Woods, Singh and company, but between Woods and Jack Nicklaus.

The Golden Bear, who played his final major last week aged 65, remains seven clear in the all-time list of winners.

But with 10 Woods is now only one behind second-placed Walter Hagen and at his current strike rate - St Andrews was his 35th major as a professional - he will catch Nicklaus in just seven more years.

Not that that will change the high regard in which he holds Nicklaus, however.

"Jack took 25 years (1962-1986) to win all 18 of his," said Woods. "But, more importantly, what did he finish - 56, 54 times in the top three or top five, whatever it was, and 19 seconds.

"I think that's more impressive than 18 wins. He's been there that many times (it was actually 56 top fives) and there's no other player that's ever played the game that's been that consistent in the big events."

Woods is getting back to that level of consistency, though.

"That's why I bust my butt so hard at home to get to this point. I've been criticised for years now over why would I change my game. This is why.

"First, second, first in the last three majors, that's why.

"To have the opportunity to get to 10 this soon in my career it's very exciting to hopefully look forward to some good years in my thirties and hopefully into my forties.

"Man, I tell you what. When I first started playing the Tour I didn't think I'd have this many before the age of 30.

"There's no way. No-one ever has. Usually the golden years for a golfer are in your thirties. Hopefully that will be the case."

That is the really worrying part for 42-year-old Singh, 36-year-old Goosen and 35-year-olds Els and Mickelson.

The three players who finished closest to Woods over the Old Course - runner-up Colin Montgomerie and third-placed pair Jose Maria Olazabal and Fred Couples - are 42, 39 and 45 respectively.

The world number one really has nothing to fear, although he makes all the right noises about his competition.

Woods reckons there is still a major out there for Montgomerie - second for the fourth time, but for the first time since 1997 - and of those immediately behind him on the rankings states: "Look at how many tournaments we've won over the last five years around the world.

"It's pretty impressive as a group. Right now any one of us can win any tournament we enter. That's pretty exciting."

The Big Five's title tally since the start of 2000 is more than 100 - Woods 32, Els 26, Singh 21, Mickelson 13 and Goosen 12 - but 2005 belongs so far to just one of them.

And that is the way he aims to keep it.

Bad news not just for the other four, but also for the European contingent so desperate to end a barren spell in the majors stretching all the way back to Paul Lawrie's Open win in 1999.

Montgomerie and Olazabal threatened, but never ultimately delivered and Sergio Garcia disappointed on the last day again.

The Europeans to take most out of the week were Scottish amateurs Lloyd Saltman and Eric Ramsay, 15th and 23rd respectively and separated by a single shot.

Saltman's five-under total matched the Open amateur record of Guy Wolstenholme on the same course in 1960.