DUBLIN, Ohio — Tiger Woods played a different game from anybody else in winning the Memorial Tournament on Sunday for the third straight year, and nobody knows it better than runner-up Paul Azinger.

        “He's probably the most dominant athlete in the history of sports,” said Azinger, who was 10 under par and finished seven strokes behind Woods. “You know, it's incredible. I don't know if the general public appreciates it. They probably do, but if they don't, they should.”

        Woods has won five of the last six tournaments he has entered; the one he didn't win, he finished third.

        One need look no further than the par 5s to figure out why the long-hitting

        Woods was able to lap the field. There are four par 5s here; played over four days, that's a total of 16 par 5s in the 72-hole tournament. On those 16 holes, Woods was 14 under par. Azinger was 2 under.

        Does Woods think he's the most dominant athlete ever?

        “I think if someone is going to be considered that, I think they would be a little bit bigger than me,” he said, smiling.

        Stewart Cink, who finished fourth, eight strokes behind Woods, said Woods is “at least as dominant” in his sport as Michael Jordan was in basketball.

        “I didn't see (football great) Jim Brown play; I didn't see Bobby Jones (the only golfer to win the Grand Slam in a calendar year),” Cink said. “But ( Woods) is at least as dominant as Michael Jordan in a game that's more difficult to dominate.”

        Woods, 25, who in two weeks will try to win a fifth straight major championship — the U.S. Open in Tulsa, Okla. — became the first player in the 26-year history of the Memorial to win it three straight times.

        Jack Nicklaus, 61, who built the Muirfield course in 1974, found no hyperbole in what Azinger said about Woods.

        “I don't think anybody has dominated an individual sport anywhere near the level that (Woods) has dominated it,” said Nicklaus.

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