HOYLAKE, England — It was over when they showed up at the first tee, Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia. Tiger came dressed for business in a two-tone red shirt and black pants. He looked the part of a serious man about to embark on a no-nonsense journey. There could be no doubt: this was a man ready to go to work.

Sergio, on the other hand, came dressed for summer camp. In matching yellow shirt and pants, he looked like a canary, or was it a lemon? He started playing and the answer was clear. It was a lemon.

Of the dozens of ways to measure Tiger Woods' golf greatness following his 11th major victory yesterday at the British Open, a comparison with Sergio Garcia is as good as any. There was a time when people thought Woods and Garcia would develop into fierce rivals on the golf course.

In the wake of Tiger's annihilation of Sergio and everyone else on a cool afternoon by the Irish Sea, the concept is downright laughable.

When he's on, Tiger has no peer on the course — certainly not the boyish Sergio, who started the day one shot behind Woods and finished a whopping seven shots back.

What we witnessed on the crusty fairways and crispy greens of Royal Liverpool was what happens when Tiger Woods gets "embarrassed," which was how he described his feelings after missing the cut at last month's U.S. Open. He added another word: "Unacceptable."

"Embarrassed" and "unacceptable" call for extraordinary measures when you're Tiger Woods, like leaving behind your ego as well as your beloved driver (he used it only once the entire tournament) as a dramatic sign of respect for a golf course that demanded intelligence and patience rather than brute force. They call for spectacular long-iron play, a rarity for Tiger because he almost never has 2-, 3- or 4-irons in his hands for approach shots to the green. They call for the diligence and responsibility to devise a conservative game plan that is so unlike you, then never vary from it, not even once.

There is no secret to Tiger Woods' success. How he wins, how he does it, was on display for all to see this week, and especially this day. Just when someone inched close, as Ernie Els did early in the final round, or the earnest Chris DiMarco did on the back nine, Woods immediately hit the gas to move further away. He's uncanny that way. But — and here's the interesting point — Woods isn't even trying to do it.

"I don't intend to do it on purpose," he said. "That's not one of those things where I can turn on the switch. I believe in the way I play golf that you turn the switch on the first hole and you have it on the entire time."

If that focus wasn't enough, there's the soothing knowledge of having been there before, of having won the big one so often that it's almost automatic that it will happen again.

"I've had enough success that I feel comfortable being in that situation," Woods said, "and I kept telling myself today that basically only Ernie and I had won this championship. We're the only ones who have basically won majors on that board. And I just think that there's a certain calmness that comes with being able to say with honesty that I've done this before. I'm out there and that's the calmness that I feel coming down the stretch."

Woods does this so well, and so often, that he almost appears to not be human. Everyone else looks so happy just to be there — and often plays like it. Els and DiMarco yucked it up with a cameraman as they came down 18. Garcia broke into a huge grin after shooting his 1-over 73. It was normal behavior, even appealing behavior, the kind of thing anyone watching at home enjoys.

Would Tiger do that? Are you kidding? Smile while losing? Not at the workplace, at least not until his work is done.

And that's when it happened. As soon as he finished, Tiger Woods the golfer, Tiger Woods the machine, Tiger Woods the businessman, became Tiger Woods the person, Tiger Woods the grieving son. Thinking of his father, Earl, who died May 3, Tiger dissolved into caddie Steve Williams arms and cried on his shoulder.

"That last putt," he said afterwards, "I realized my dad would never see this again. I tried (to win) at Augusta but it just didn't happen... So all my emotions just came out. I guess they've been locked in there. But at that moment they just came pouring out."

Only after 72 holes were complete did Tiger Woods become human. Because only then was his work done.