As the 2007 PGA season began in Hawaii, the question was who could make a move on Tiger Woods. A safe answer would be that no-one can disturb his dominance of the golfing world. Only Roger Federer can be compared to Tiger’s supremacy of a sport -- and Federer is yet to win at Roland Garros whilst Tiger has won everywhere.

Tiger and wife Elin are expecting their first child this year and already media attention is focused on the cub’s entry into the world. Tiger has said he will be cutting down on tournaments played but I have no doubt he will still be around to torment his challengers in the majors and other key tournaments.

So who will challenge the Woods hegemony, or at least make up some ground in the world ranking points? Phil Mickelson had been touted as the most likely to challenge but he had a relatively quiet 2006 where he was overtaken by Jim Furyk as world number two. Furyk has a very solid game and enjoyed nine top-three finishes (Mickelson and Vijay Singh only had three each) one behind Tiger's 10. The main difference being that Tiger won eight while Furyk had two wins.

The other big improver in the rankings was Australia’s Adam Scott, who has moved to number four and had seven top-three finishes last year. Scott has now overtaken Spain’s Sergio Garcia as the young gun most likely to throw down the gauntlet and 'major' things are now expected from the Aussie. Perhaps England’s Luke Donald will be the one to emerge from the chasing pack as he follows a successful 2006 where he had 10 top-10 finishes from only 18 events as he continued to ply his trade on the European tour. Ernie Els will also be hoping to make up lost ground after a year spent recovering from knee surgery.

But they, along with over 200 other golfers will be fighting for at the best second place. The new look tour (FedEx cup, with even more prize money) teed off this week with the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii. The tournament is open only to winners from last year's tour and amongst the field of 34 were six Australians and there will be 24 more playing on the PGA tour in 2007, which is one more than a year ago and 10 more than in 2002. No other country has as many tour players with South Africa (nine) and Sweden (eight) the next closest. Of course the USA still dominates in terms of quantity but after getting beaten again in last year's Ryder Cup, the Americans are losing their qualitative and quantative edge in world golf.

What do you think about the year ahead in golf? Is there anyone out there who can dethrone Tiger? Let us have your comments.