Mel Evans / AP

Tiger Woods is playing as well in majors this season as he was in 2000, but there is a difference in how he is perceived by his peers.

“In 2000, he was a phenomenal player that nobody could touch,” Harrington said. “Now, he’s still a great player, but he’s probably not as untouchable as he was.”

Sergio Garcia, unwilling to put Woods on a pedestal, was asked whether he thought Woods had returned to the dominant figure he was five years ago.

“He’s not back at where he was in 2000, for sure,” Garcia said. “He’s playing well. I don’t know. He’s got his problems, and I’ve got my problems, and we’ll try to work those out.”

Some already have suggested this is a two-man race between the top two players in the world, Woods and Singh, which brought a sharp response from the guy who kept Woods from a shot at the Grand Slam.

“I believe there’s five missing from the top 100 in the world,” U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell said. “I would not say it’s a two-horse race. I think it’s anyone’s game this week.”

Campbell is still glowing from his victory at Pinehurst No. 2 two months ago, when he refused to buckle as Woods made a late charge Sunday afternoon. Woods twice got within one shot of the lead, but fell back with sloppy bogeys over the closing holes.

“I showed to everybody and to the rest of the world that he can be beat,” Campbell said. “I managed to knock him off his pedestal for a week, which is nice.”

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That’s a big change from 2000, when Woods won nearly half the tournaments he entered and got into players’ heads. Davis Love III spoke frankly about Woods being nearly impossible to beat when he was on his game. Colin Montgomerie said everyone in the locker room knew they were playing for second when Woods had a good start.

“When he would throw up a low score the first day at, say, the U.S. Open in 2000, I think most guys in the field thought it was over even before they teed off,” Lee Janzen said. “When he first started playing, I think everybody just kind of said, ‘Well, we never saw that one coming.’ And we’ve been playing catch-up ever since.”

What keeps Woods from being so intimidating now is a recent slump — 10 majors without a victory, only one PGA Tour victory in a 16-month span while retooling his swing with coach Hank Haney.

A victory at the PGA Championship might be what it takes to change all that.