By Mark Garrod, PA Sport

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Tiger Woods, the undisputed king of golf, has said it again - and it makes chilling reading for all those who will now be trying to stop him winning the Grand Slam.

"I'm going to try to get better," said Woods as he reflected on winning the US Open and then looked ahead to next month's Open.

A victory he described as "awesome" has left the 26-year-old American halfway towards the sport's ultimate dream of all four Major championships in one year.

The third leg is at Muirfield on July 18-21 and then comes the US PGA at Hazeltine near Minneapolis on August 15-18.

It is a huge task - nobody has ever won the first three, let alone all four - but Woods has won seven of the last 11, including four in a row across two seasons.

"I've done it before and hopefully I can do it again," said Woods, who with his eight Majors already stands fifth on the all-time list.

Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 Majors is getting closer all the time. At his present striking rate Woods will be there in less than five more years.

"I'm living out a dream," added the world number one, a position he looks set to hold until the next Tiger Woods arrives on the scene.

Until then golf is in the grip of one man. In the Masters in April Woods led for the last 18 holes. At Bethpage Black it was for the last 55.

Every time something seems a little off - he three-putted the first two greens in the final round - he finds a way to limit the damage, then he finds a gear that nobody else at the moment has.

World number two Phil Mickelson finished second three shots back on level par, his sixth top 10 finish in the last seven Majors and 16th in all. Since World War Two only Australian Bruce Devlin has had that many without winning one.

Sergio Garcia was the one who went head-to-head with Woods in the final round in New York and while he was beaten as heavily as Mike Tyson was against Lennox Lewis, at 22 the experience can only help.

And so can the run-ins he had with the crowd in what was probably the noisiest Major ever.

"We know everything about Tiger more or less," said the Spaniard, who admits now he made a big mistake by suggesting on Friday that play would have been called off because of rain if Woods had been on the course at the time.

"To see his composure, his way of hanging in there and just being able to recover when he needs to is pretty impressive.

"But I think I had a very good chance and just didn't take it. This could have been a great, great tournament for me and I feel confident enough that it's just a matter of time.

"I didn't have a chance of seeing Jack Nicklaus play in his prime, but I tell you one thing: it doesn't get much better than this.

"Tiger's unbelievable. He's able to do whatever it takes. If he's leading by four or five and doesn't need to pull too hard he doesn't.

"If he needs to play a little harder he does. But it's good - I'm looking forward to getting better.

"I know he's going to win a lot more, but hopefully I'll be able to take something out of his reach.

"He's still human. He showed it with his three-putts and I thought he was a little nervous and felt the pressure too."

Nick Price commented: "He has this uncanny ability to raise his game when it comes to the Majors.

"I wouldn't put the Grand Slam past him. The man is a phenomenon. There is no doubt about it. I think he has a real good chance of doing it."

Thomas Bjorn, still one of only four players to give Woods a lead in a tournament and beat him, added: "I know Tiger well by now, but when you get to a Major it's as though you don't know the guy at all.

"He is just so focused and he keeps doing things people don't believe are possible. I put nothing past him."

Hopefully, the lessons that are learnt from last week are not just by those falling short of the standard Woods is setting, but by officials as well.

After talks with television, Garcia and Woods teed off at 3.30pm yesterday so that the climax would come in prime time.

The decision was taken knowing that there could be a thunderstorm. It arrived just after 6pm with the final pair only on the 11th hole.

Luckily play was able to resume less than an hour later. Fifteen minutes more and the round might have spilled into Monday, preventing many of the paying public from seeing the finish.

They would have had good cause to be furious if that had happened.

But for the moment the attention is on Woods and his Grand Slam bid.

He is the first player to win the first two in a year since Nicklaus in 1972. The Open was at Muirfield then too and Nicklaus finished second, as did Arnold Palmer at St Andrews in 1960 when he also had the chance.

Ben Hogan is the only player to win three in a season. That was 1953 and only a clash of dates prevented him going for the Grand Slam.

Woods does not have that problem. He does not appear to have any problem at all.