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Johnson leaves Grand Slam talk to 'scary' Tiger

After claiming the U.S. Masters last year, American Zach Johnson thought about winning the grand slam of all four majors - for about two seconds.

"If it even crossed my mind, and I can't remember if it did - I'm sure it probably did - it was in my mind briefly," Johnson told reporters following his practice round at Augusta National Golf Club on Tuesday. "I'm pretty realistic about things.

"You know, it certainly was a possibility," laughed the Masters champion, "but I just missed the U.S. Open, I finished 50th or something like that."

If winning the Masters was a dream come true for Johnson, the grand slam is something he cannot even fathom.

The grand slam dream is reborn with the year's first major and for the last decade the single named attached to the challenge remains world number one Tiger Woods, who will seek his fifth Green Jacket at Augusta National.

While Woods is seldom out of the spotlight at Augusta, the focus this year will be particularly intense after the American's spectacular start to the season.

Woods has been virtually unstoppable this year, winning his first four tournaments before finishing fifth at last month's WGC-CA Championship in Miami.

"He (Woods) is a phenom and he's won every major and won every major multiple times," said Johnson, who has just one top 10 finish in eight events this season.

"I think everybody would probably agree that it seems like his form, middle to the end of last year and certainly the beginning of this year, you can kind of compare it to 2001, 2002, that time period and that was scary. So he's still as scary as ever.

"He says he can get better, which is absolutely scary. He's a freak, in a good way."

April 9, 2008