TIGER EYES HALF SLAM - FOR NOW.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

It is target golf of another sort, played across the pages of time by a solitary figure operating at a higher plane. Others aim at pins. Tiger Woods homes in on history.

History tells him no one has won the Masters, the U.S. and British Opens and the PGA Championship in the same year, a quest better known as the modern grand slam. You need not be privy to his innermost thoughts to understand that the idea that he might be the first appeals to him.

``Winning the grand slam is not easy,'' he said. ``But I kind of have an alternative way of looking at it. Granted, you're playing against the best fields in the world under the most extreme conditions, and obviously the butterflies are going to be going crazy. But I've said this before, that Phil Mickelson won four times last year. All you need to do is win the right four.''

Woods, 21, already has completed a fourth of the journey, winning the Masters in April. The second leg of the slam - the U.S. Open - begins Thursday at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

It was the dominating manner in which Woods won the Masters - by a record 12 strokes - that has the golf world weighing the possibility of a slam for the first time since Jack Nicklaus held sway over the game a quarter-century ago.

Woods' play in his first full season as a professional has rekindled interest in the pursuit of a grand slam. He already has won three tournaments - the Mercedes Championships, the Masters and the Byron Nelson Classic - and has established beyond any doubt that he already is the best player in the world.

``He's on a pretty big high,'' Nicklaus said. ``He's playing awfully well. Congressional is a very good golf course for him. I would say the chances of Tiger winning two of them are very good. Beyond that I don't know. I think anybody winning all four is a very, very difficult chore. But it's possible.''

The final two legs are the British Open, July 17-20 at Royal Troon, and the PGA Championship, Aug. 14-17 at Winged Foot Golf Club at Mamaroneck, N.Y. Troon is a potential stumbling block for Woods, according to Tom Watson, who won the Open there in 1982.

``The courses set up for him, with the exception of Troon,'' Watson said. ``Winged Foot is a wonderful course for him. Congressional is the same way. But Troon is the equalizer. It's kind of like the way Colonial played (three weeks ago). Very short, a lot of irons off the tee.

``But Tiger can use his length to an advantage at Congressional and Winged Foot and can distance himself from the rest of the field. Troon, he'll have to lay up a lot and that will bring him back to the field as far as his length is concerned.''

A pattern in Woods' schedule already has been detected. It is apparent that, as Nicklaus did before him, he intends to focus almost exclusively on major championships, the tournaments that come to define a player's career.

Tiger tales: Looking for advice on how to improve your golf swing? Now, you can turn to Woods.

Woods has signed a three-year deal with Golf Digest to contribute monthly instruction articles to the magazine, beginning with the current June issue, it was announced Monday.

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Chart: (color) U.S. OPEN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP