AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Rarely is it mentioned anymore, partly because it has never been done in its current form and, to a large extent, because few golfers have generated this kind of excitement or confidence.
Ben Hogan might have done it, except for a quirk in the schedule. Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer each got halfway there, only to fall short overseas.
Now the question is being asked.
Now the idea of a Grand Slam doesn't seem far-fetched.
Not even to Tiger Woods.
"Whether it's realistic or not, I couldn't really tell you," Woods said after his record-setting, history-making 12-shot win in the 61st Masters on Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club. "But I think it can be done."
In the history of the game, it has been done only once. That was in 1930, when the legendary Bobby Jones won what was then considered the sport's Grand Slam -- the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, British Open and British Amateur -- four years before the Masters began.
At least for this year, and perhaps for this generation, it can be done only by Woods, the 21-year-old wunderkind who became the youngest winner in Masters history.
And with the remaining three majors being played at exceedingly long and difficult courses -- U.S. Open at Congressional in Bethesda; British Open at Royal Troon; PGA Championship at Winged Foot -- it doesn't seem that crazy an idea.
"If you think about it, let's use for example Phil Mickelson last year, I think he won four tournaments," Woods said. "Well, if you win the right four tournaments, then you have a Slam."
The victory by Woods was his fourth since he turned pro last summer, and his second this year. But it was his dominance over the course and the field that has many, including Woods, thinking about the possibility of a Grand Slam.
Consider what Woods did.
His 18-under-par total of 270 broke the tournament scoring record shared by Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd, and his margin of victory was the largest this century.
It was the largest margin of victory ever in a U.S. major, eclipsing the 11-shot win for Willie Smith in the 1899 U.S. Open at Baltimore Country Club.
"The rest of us were playing for the silver medal," said former U.S. Open champion and Ryder Cup captain Tom Kite, who finished a very distant second.
But there are a number of factors going against Woods in his pursuit of a Slam, history being chief among them.
