There was no magical shot or arm-pumping theatrics during Tiger Woods’ final round at the NEC Invitational on Sunday. The world’s best player managed to turn a 66 into a 71 and still win the NEC for the fourth time in his career.

Meet Tiger Woods, the grinder.

With his putter taking the first 15 holes off, Woods showcased why he’s the greatest competitor in the game.

Phil Mickelson can smile and shake all the hands and tap all the plaques and hit all the fearless shots he wants, but until he finds a way to summon Woods’ resolve, he’ll spend the next decade much in the same fashion as he spent the last: as a talented-but-flawed player who had the unfortunate luck to play during the prime of the best ever.

The difference between Tiger and Everybody Else isn’t necessarily physical. Everybody works out these days. Even Phil. Everybody hits it 300 yards. Stuart Appleby hit a couple of 400-yard bombs on No. 16 at Firestone this week.

The difference lies between the ears. You can criticize Woods for plenty of things: he’s aloof, he's boring, he’s got a caddy who makes Dick Cheney seem charming, but you can’t criticize his effort.

What makes Woods so captivating is his undying belief that he will shoot 58 every round, that he can win every tournament, even if he’s 10 back on Sunday morning.

GRINDER

He brings it every time he tees it up. He misses the cut once every, oh, seven or eight years, and never in a major.

Why? Because Woods is smart enough to realize he’s at his best when he plays a lighter schedule, gearing his game to peak only in the tournaments that really matter most to him, not the ones where he can show up, make the cut with his eyes closed and cash a check on Monday morning.

It amazed me when people got upset after Woods bailed following his final round at the PGA Championship even though there was an outside shot he could have been in a playoff.

In his mind, Woods was giving the players still out on the course, Mickelson included, their due. With two par-5s left for the leaders, Woods figured (correctly) there was no way Mickelson, Thomas Bjorn and Steve Elkington were going to back up.

So he took off for Orlando. Wouldn’t you?

Your options are sticking around an extra night in New Jersey or going home to your supermodel-type wife.

Ding! You are now free to move about the country.

Where was Mickelson on Sunday at Firestone? Shooting 74 on his way to finishing 16 shots behind Woods. Now, you could argue Mickelson deserves a pass because he was still recovering from his emotional win at Baltusrol.

Funny, it didn’t stop Tiger from claiming the NEC in ‘99 and 2000 after winning the PGA.

Woods trailed by as many as three shots at Firestone on Sunday. Yet even as he missed putts, airmailed greens and sprayed tee shots, he found a way to win. And when he needed to make something happen, he managed to find the side-door on 16, then muscled his way out of trouble on 18 to win for the 45th time in his career.

He won’t win every major. He won’t shoot 58. Probably.

But he thinks he can. We think he can, too.

And that’s what makes him different than any other player.