Yet another Year of the Tiger has come and gone. This time it’s really over, or at least it will be by Sunday when his Tiger, er, Target World Challenge concludes with Woods adding $1.3 million to the $10.6 million he won earlier this season in his “personal drive to a billion.’’.

Winning his seventh PGA Tour player of the year award was almost anti-climatic for “Tigs,’’ as he refers to himself in the third-person. Seriously, it was over even before the British Open.

If we had to peg the exact second that Tiger won yet another POY, it was when that little Nike swoosh moon-walked its way into the cup at the 70 th hole of the Masters. Yeah, it was going to be a grree-a-a-a-t season.

Let’s see . . . six wins, sixth Vardon Trophy (68.66 scoring average), moved to third in majors (10), jumped to seventh in all-time wins (46), and regained his No. 1 status on the planet -- and has held it! -- since March 1.

Not bad for a kid that will turn 30 on Dec. 30.

“Hopefully, my 30s will be better than my 20s,’’ Woods told several hundred reporters during a teleconference call Tuesday shortly after being named the Tour’s top dog. “If you look at most of the guys’ careers, it looks like their peak years are in the 30s. . . . That would be pretty neat to have happen.’’

According to the experts who study such things, a PGA Tour player’s peak age is 34, and if that’s true, everybody else on Tour is in major trouble.

What’s scary about Tiger is that he says he’s just starting to feel comfortable with the new swing he had been working on for the past year with instructor Hank Haney. After dominating wins recently at the PGA Grand Slam and in Japan, “I know I can play now.’’

Seriously, he wasn’t kidding. According to TW, the swing he used most of this season was “too robotic,’’ and just in the past month it’s become “natural looking.’’

This is the second time Woods has rebuilt his swing, the first change coming under former guru Butch Harmon following his runaway victory in the 1997 Masters.

“You never foresee that,’’ Woods said of the changes. “Hopefully, I won’t have to do it again.’’

What Woods is saying is that he’s better than ever, if that’s possible. To emphasize the point he made this comparison.

“I’m probably going to exaggerate a little bit, but it’s tenfold,’’ he said of the new swing vs. the old. “I understand what I’m working on now. Before I had a grasp.

“Now, I see a certain ball flight, and I know what to do, and that’s huge because I can rectify it on the golf course when it matters most. I’m on the path of hitting good shots now.’’

And just when you think Tiger is about to take off his shirt and reveal the red “S,’’, he starts talking about being 30 and getting old. He even made a joke about losing his hair -- “I’m trying to grow it on my face, and it’s not growing there well, either.‘’

The good part of getting older, he said, is being married, hanging out with Mark O’Meara, and finding “balance’’ in his life.

In that regard, he gave wife Elin a pat on the back and then talked about how O’Meara had introduced him to fishing, one of the mental tools he uses to find that “balance’’ -- with one slight exception.

“I’ve kind of gone away from the fishing that (O’Meara) does -- fly fishing -- and I’ve gone to spear fishing.’’ said Woods in a statement that is quite revealing about the way Tiger handles his prey.

The bad part about getting old, he added, is that someday he’ll have to think about retiring.

“When I’m playing my best and I can’t win, that’s when I’ll walk,’’ he said of the future with no mention of the Champions Tour. “Because I’ve been to the top, where if I play my best, I know I can win. Then, all of a sudden my best isn’t good enough, so why am I out here any more? I’ll go home.’’

Much to the chagrin of Vijay, Phil and Ernie -- and every other player on Tour -- Tiger’s departure won’t come soon enough.

Hmmm. Maybe it’s just beginning.