Could this be year of the Tiger?

Year of the Tiger ... can Woods sustain his form for the rest of 2013? Source: John Raoux / AAP

It might be the year of the Snake in Chinese terminology but in the world of golf it's turning out to be year of the Tiger - Tiger Woods that is!

The world no.1 claimed his fourth win of the year at The Players on the weekend and just to put it in perspective, the last time Woods won four events before the end of May was back in 2000 and he remarkably went on to win nine times that year.

Here are some of the stats that have brought him to where he is in 2013:

• First in total putting
• First in greens hit from 125 yards in
• First in all-round ranking
• First in scoring average with 68.51
• ... and the big one: First in par 5 birdie average

When he dominates the last category, he wins more often than not. 

Tiger will next tee it up at the Memorial next month and this is another event where he has won on numerous occasions.

The PGA Tour moves to the Lone Star state of Texas this week for the Byron Nelson Championship.

Once again the 7,166 yard par 70 TPC Four Seasons Resort at Los Colinas will host the event and with the weather expected to be hot and humid with windy conditions, it will be a terrific test for the field.

Here are my top five picks this week:

First up is the 2010 Nelson champion Jason Day. This will be his fourth start in this event and is yet to finish outside the top 10. And talking of top 10s, the Queenslander has had four this year including a third-place result at the Masters. Jason tied for 19th last week at the Players, closing with a four-under-par 68, so that’s a nice confidence boosting round to head into this week with. I reckon he is a big chance.

There’s another Aussie that I like this week and that is Marc Leishman. Since sharing fourth at the Masters, he's kept his run going, tying for ninth at Harbour Town and then sharing eighth last week at the Players. He also has a great track record around the Los Colinas course, posting a T8 (2009), T12 (2010) and T3 last year where he actually got into a tie for the lead until dropping a critical shot at the 71st hole.

I’ve been following D.A. Points for a while now since he took out the Houston Open at the end of March. Three weeks later he was unlucky to lose to Billy Horschel in New Orleans. He has played well at this event over the years with a solo third in 2009 and a T7 in 2010.

There are a couple of Texans to look out for this week, with the first being Ryan Palmer. He is coming off a tie for fifth last week at the Players and has a good track record at the TPC Los Colinas course the past few years, losing a playoff to Keegan Bradley in 2011 while last year he posted a tie for ninth. He has also demonstrated over time that when he finishes high up in an event he normally carries that into the following week.

The second Texan is 19-year-old Jordan Speith, who has just turned pro and is playing on sponsors’ invites this season. He is a talented kid that has posted three top 10s this year, including a runner up result at the Puerto Rico Open, a tie for ninth at the Heritage and seventh at the Tampa Bay Championship. He has a good track record at this course having played there many times in his short career.

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