Or rather, somewhat competent competition. Tiger 06's revamped career mode, dubbed rivals mode, is a twist on last year's legends mode, which had you taking on famous PGA Tour pros in a number of challenges. In Tiger 06, the concept of beating golf's historical best is taken to a more literal level, as you and your created golfer will be hopping through multiple eras of professional golf's century-and-a-half-old tradition, looking to chase the elusive Tiger Woods down and prove that you are the best golfer of all time. Along the way, you'll take on luminaries from the different eras of golf's heyday, such as Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and, of course, Tiger himself. You'll also take part in various skills challenges and links games against a host of Tiger 06 original golfers.

Your home base HQ will change in appearance as you travel through the ages in Tiger 06's rivals mode.

The time-travel theme comes through in a number of cute touches--such as various architectural looks for your home base clubhouse, a big variety of period-specific clothing and equipment to dress your created golfer up in, and opponents that look like throwbacks to the era from which they originate. Unfortunately, it isn't seamless. While it's fun to play with old-style equipment--dual-shaft wedges and leather stitched balls are a couple of examples--the relative similarity in performance for all equipment in the game doesn't really ring true.

We love the fact that Tiger 06 pays respect to golf's storied history, placing icons like Nicklaus and Hogan in the game. The problem is that these PGA legends are a shadow of their real-life selves in the game. Each legend acts as a boss for his or her respective era, and in order to move on, you need to beat that "boss." Whereas real golfers trembled at the thought of taking on Arnie or Jack in sudden death, you generally have nothing to fear from the legends in Tiger 06's rivals mode. Once you've pumped up your created golfer's power and accuracy attributes, even the best in the game (save for Tiger) won't be able to keep up with any part of your game. Legends regularly miss midrange putts, can't drive anywhere near as long as you, and generally just don't put up the kind of fight you would expect them to. As such, rivals mode doesn't even approach challenge until you are ranked in the top 10, facing off against real-life PGA Tour pros like John Daly, Rich Beem, and Stuart Appleby, and playing on some of the surprisingly difficult fantasy courses.

Those who aren't really interested in chasing down PGA legends, however, will still find plenty to do in Tiger 06. What the game may lack in challenge, it nearly makes up for in its sheer number of play modes. The hardcore may skip directly to the PGA Tour season mode, where you take your created golfer on the tour and play events throughout the calendar against the pros. Getting through tour events is a fairly quick process, thanks to the game's speedy load times (especially on the Xbox), and the challenge put up by the pros here is a bit more stiff than that found in rivals mode. Then there's the real-time event calendar, a host of traditional game modes (such as stroke, skins, stableford, best ball, four-ball, and alternate-shot play), and the skills 18, which challenges you to put your shot through a number of colored rings suspended in midair and earn points in the process.

Online play consists of a number of match styles, including stroke and match play, as well as the same battle golf mode found in the single-player game, where competitors battle it out on the links in order win one another's clubs. A number of different options are available to choose from when setting up challenges online, from tees, to putting surface, to hole difficulty (either normal or tour difficulty). Unfortunately, there is no option to turn off the ideal putt camera, and it will inevitably act as a crutch for online matches. You can take your own character online or play a PGA Tour pro if you choose. The performance, while not exactly stellar in terms of lag (or lack thereof), is passable enough to get you through a round and therefore adds some life to the game.

For the tinkerer at heart, Tiger Woods 06's create-a-player tool remains one of the best in the business. Using this powerful feature you can create virtual likenesses of yourself, or take your created duffer in an entirely different direction and whip up something entirely strange. Whatever you decide, using the powerful and flexible tool--which lets you adjust everything from brow depth to ear shape, and everything else in between--you can be assured that your creation will be unlike anyone else's out there. Over in the pro shop, the inclusion of a variety of era-specific clothing is a fun touch--especially the rainbow-colored, vertical-striped pants from the '70s that we all remember and would sooner rather forget. The developers did a smart thing with accessories this time around by splitting tour winnings and attribute points into two separate categories. In previous Tiger games, you had to pay money to improve your golfer's attributes, such as putting, driving, and accuracy, which meant that you often had to skimp on the fun stuff until later in the game. Now, money is meant only for clothing and equipment, and points are tied directly to improving your golfer's game. Go ahead, feed that inner clotheshorse...you know you want to.

Graphically, Tiger probably peaked last year and plateaus this time around. Player models are attractive and feature a huge variety of swing styles to keep things interesting. New courses such as Pasatiempo look great, and there's even some background movement--such as animals scurrying about--to keep things from becoming too static. Random camera glitches sometimes prevent you from being able to see the ball when your opponent has it, but it's not too distracting.

The game face system is back and it's just as fun and powerful as before.

On the sound front, we like the ability to choose from one of five distinct voices for your created character, and some of the opponent characters you face have some funny lines, especially a clone of Carl Spackler from Caddyshack who you meet in rivals mode. Once again, Gary McCord and David Feherty make up the booth duo, and as in previous years, McCord is ever the optimist and Feherty ever the wiseass. It's a successful pairing that continues to make for enjoyable, if unremarkable, listening.

Much like Tiger Woods' real game, Tiger 06 has gone through some significant changes in the past year, most notably in the swing mechanics. Unfortunately, the result is a game that still errs on the side of approachability and ease. You will find success early and often in Tiger 06, and though that may not sound like such a bad thing, it isn't necessarily true to the spirit of the sport, where triumphs--however minor--need to be earned, not simply offered to you for the taking.