Woods extends his PGA Tour streak to 7

SAN DIEGO (AP) _ Tiger Woods resumed his improbable pursuit of Byron Nelson with a result that was all too predictable. <br/><br/>Woods caught up to the pack with an eagle and pulled away with bogey-free

Sunday, January 28th 2007, 5:50 pm

By: News On 6

SAN DIEGO (AP) _ Tiger Woods resumed his improbable pursuit of Byron Nelson with a result that was all too predictable.

Woods caught up to the pack with an eagle and pulled away with bogey-free golf down the stretch Sunday to close with a 6-under 66 and win the Buick Invitational for the third straight year, his seventh consecutive victory on the PGA Tour.

The streak is the second-longest streak in tour history. Nelson set the record in 1945 with 11 in a row, a record many believe to be untouchable.

Woods won six in a row in 2000, a streak that Phil Mickelson stopped at Torrey Pines. But against a cast of challengers short on experience and victories, the world's No. 1 player met little resistance as he continued a streak that began in July at the British Open.

Woods doesn't consider this a true winning streak because he failed to win once in Europe and twice in Asia. But it still counts in the PGA Tour record books, and the question whether he can catch Nelson still stay alive until he tees it up next month at either the Nissan Open in Los Angeles or the Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.