You can pencil in the prediction almost every year: Tiger Woods is favored to win the Masters Tournament.

Tiger Woods and Buddy Alexander, a former U.S. Amateur Champion and current University of Florida golf coach, talk on the practice putting green. Oddsmakers have given Woods 11-to-8 odds to win his fifth Masters this week. (Jackie Ricciardi/Staff)

It's a good pick; Woods has done it four of the 11 times he's played at Augusta National Golf Club as a pro.

This year the phrase is the same, just stronger. It's more along the lines of "Can anyone stay with Tiger in the 72nd Masters?"

Woods, 32, has been so dominant for the past seven months (seven wins in eight starts) that he is the prohibitive pick, not just the overwhelming one.

Oddsmakers such as Ladbrokes have him at slightly more than even money (11-to-8) to win this week. He's followed by two-time champ Phil Mickelson at 10-to-1 odds.

The first step to a possible fifth green jacket -- and a run at the Grand Slam -- begins today for Woods.

"He says he can get better, which is absolutely scary," defending champion Zach Johnson said. "He's scary as ever. He's scary when he's not playing well."

Woods tees off at 10:45 a.m. alongside U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera and Stuart Appleby. Woods and Appleby played in the final pairing of last year's Masters, when Woods tied for second, two shots behind Zach Johnson.

Rory Sabbatini, one of the other players who tied for second place last year, won Wednesday's Par-3 Contest with 5-under-par 22. No one in the 48-year history of the Par-3 Contest has won that and the Masters in the same year.

For the second consecutive year, Arnold Palmer, who won the first of his four green jackets 50 years ago this week, will be the honorary starter. He'll hit the first shot at 7:50 a.m.

If all goes as expected, Woods will turn the other 93 players -- including the top 55 in the Official World Golf Ranking -- into bit players on golf's grandest stage.

"This major is so important to all of us," Woods said. "It's such a special event. You always want to win this event. I've been lucky enough to have won it four times."

It makes sense that the world's No. 1 player (by 11.57 points over No. 2 Mickelson) would be the favorite at the course Mickelson calls "the most complete test of golf" the pros play each year.

"He's got a great record here at Augusta. He's been playing great, so his confidence is sky-high, even for him," Ernie Els, a two-time Masters runner-up, said of Woods.

Here's how far above the rest of the tour Woods has been this year: His scoring average of 67.30 is nearly two shots lower than the No. 2 scorer, Luke Donald. Woods also leads the tour in birdie average (4.83), greens in regulation (74.54) and all-around (257).

The most important stat could be his putting average. He's third despite a mediocre week on the greens in his most recent start, when he finished tied for fifth in the CA Championship two weeks ago.

"You have to putt well here," said Woods, who didn't do that at Augusta National in 2007, when he tied for 28th with 117 putts, five more than Johnson. "You can't putt poorly here and win."

You can't finish off rounds poorly, either, and expect to win. In 2007, Woods closed out his first and third rounds with bogeys on Nos. 17 and 18.

"I made some mistakes on 17 and 18 a couple of days, and that was the difference between winning and losing," Woods said.

Still, Woods, who trailed by one shot after 54 holes last year, had taken the lead after three holes of the final round. He was even par at the time, and that's how he finished the round (with 72). It was the first time Woods led during the final round of a major but didn't go on to win.

Woods might not win this week, but it will be a shock if he's not in contention on the final nine. In the past eight years, Woods has won three times and has three other top-5 finishes.

"He always talks about being there," Ben Crenshaw said. "Jack Nicklaus talked about that forever, and he was there. You want to get yourself in contention. That's what Tiger works so hard at."

Said Woods: "I just love getting out there and mixing it up with the guys here, and they are trying to beat me and I'm trying to beat them."

Adam Scott said players aren't as "blown away" by Woods as when he came out on tour.

"I think we're all playing better and we're used to it," Scott said. "But he's still playing better than us at the end of the day."

No one has ever accomplished the professional Grand Slam -- winning the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in the same year. Woods won all four in a row -- from the U.S. Open in June 2000 to the Masters in 2001 -- but it was called the Tiger Slam because it didn't happen in the same year.

"But in order to win all on the calendar, you have to win here," Woods said. "Hopefully I can get it done this year and move on."

"Basically, he's done it before, so when you've done something before, you feel like you can do it again," Els said. "And at his lofty heights, in his mind, he feels it's doable."

If Woods prevails this week, he'll pass two-time Masters champion Ben Hogan on the PGA Tour's victory list. He's tied with Hogan at 64.

"I love winning," Woods said.

"He's the darnedest winner so far that we've ever seen in golf," Crenshaw said this week.

Reach David Westin at (706) 823-3224 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.