But the Fijian matched Woods’ five victories in ’03, then won nine times in ’04 to dethrone Woods.

“If someone told you that Vijay would be No. 1 in the world after Bethpage, you would have laughed,” Ogilvy said. “Well, you wouldn’t have laughed because Vijay is a great player. But you would have laughed if someone said anyone would be better than Tiger. He was winning tournaments for fun back then. No question, it’s possible. But it’s going to be tough. And a lot depends on him.”

Woods twice went 10 majors without winning, and he lost his No. 1 ranking during both those droughts. But his rebound was remarkable. After the first dry spell, he won seven of the next 11 majors; after the second, he won four of the next eight.

“If Tiger plays his best golf, it’s hard to beat that,” Casey said. “It can be done, and I don’t think Tiger would disagree. But he would find a way to work twice as hard to make sure it didn’t happen. And that’s the difficult part.”

Garcia already has played in the final group twice in a major (both times losing to Woods). Scott’s four victories include The Players Championship and the Tour Championship. Casey won three times in Europe last year and was voted the tour’s best golfer. Ogilvy will try to convert his first major into many more.

All of them have solid credentials, weakened only by comparisons to Woods.

“The hardest thing now is for young kids to realize this Tiger benchmark is out of most everyone’s league,” Scott said. “I think it’s a hard thing for young kids to find out when they get here. I certainly found out it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.”

But he hasn’t given up a dream nurtured as a teenager in Australia, even before he turned on his TV that Monday morning in 1997.

“You can’t give up on your hope of being No. 1 in the world,” Scott said. “I want to be No. 1, and I believe I can be. But I’ve got to be realistic. If I play my best golf in the next five years, then I might be No. 1. If. Maybe. And it depends on what he does. But it’s five years away for me.”

Another pause, another smile.

“Maybe I’ll catch him between swing changes,” Scott said. “He’ll be due for another one then.”

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