One of Tiger Woods' enduring trademarks has been his ability to rise to a challenge.
Well, don't look now Tiger, but this is more than a challenge. This is an all-out assault.
This week at the U.S. Open there is a secondary plot line being played out in the sand dunes at Shinnecock Golf Club by some of the game's household names. For the first time in nearly five years, it is not a foregone conclusion who will be the No. 1 player in the world at the end of the weekend.
Woods has held the No. 1 spot since Aug. 15, 1999, just after he won his first PGA Championship at Medinah. Just as his long reign in that position has symbolized his domination, so does this week's threat point toward the potential for a new world order in the realm of golf.
If Ernie Els happens to win the Open come Sunday at Southampton, N.Y., and if Woods finishes lower than sixth place, Els will assume the No. 1 spot in the world rankings, the accepted global measuring stick in the sport.
A year ago, Woods' standing seemed unassailable, but over the past 12 months there has been a dramatic sea change at golf's elite level. While nobody -- not even Els or Vijay Singh -- is dumb enough to think that Woods is going to step aside without a fight, the gap has closed to the point where, if the circumstances fall into place this weekend, Els could boot Woods right off the marquee.
Neither Els nor Singh has made any secret about their wishes to overtake Woods. They are hungry to make it happen but it's not an end unto itself. If they keep playing the way they have been, it will happen for one or the other.
"At some point I want to be that top-ranked player," Singh said. "Playing well is one thing but winning, that's the only way I can get to the top."
"The way Vijay played the last two-and-a-half years speaks for itself," Els said. "I've played pretty well the past three years myself. Everything is right there, you know, and it's kind of exciting."
The common thread between Els and Singh is also something that sets them apart from Woods: Each has a near-insatiable appetite for competition.
Singh plays almost every week on the PGA Tour while Els thinks nothing of travelling vast distances all over the globe. Both are of the mind-set that if they take care of business, the rankings will follow. Woods always has been more strategic, planning his schedule around the majors.
"My goal, still, is to try to make the championships, play good and try to win golf tournaments," Els said. "And the No. 1 position, hopefully, will take care of itself. I don't want to think about that. That's not my total motivation. My motivation is to win golf tournaments."
As the 2004 season began to unfold, it appeared that Singh would be the likely candidate to unseat Woods. But Els has been surging and, with his win at the Memorial Tournament two weeks ago, he leapt past Singh and into Woods' rear-view mirror.
"By winning three times and being in the top 10 almost every week, I think Vijay was playing the best golf of anybody in the world," Els said. "But things change out here pretty quickly. I won at Memorial and I'm up to No. 2 now, but we're all so close."
For his part, Woods is ignoring the pursuit and talks bravely of how his game is "getting close" to the level it will take to win here.
Clearly, though, the intimidation factor that used to make his fellow competitors shrink from him has been reduced, if not erased.
"Going into a major before," Irishman Padraig Harrington said, "everybody was thinking about Tiger's game. Now everybody is thinking about their own games. A couple of years ago, we were all thinking 'Well, if I play well, hopefully Tiger's not going to be on top of his game.' Now we're thinking 'If I play well, I've got a chance.' "
Harrington is not alone. While they continue to pay lip service to the respect they have for Woods, many of the top players recognize that he's human. Brilliantly talented, but human.
And therefore vulnerable. Singh and Els are riding his rear bumper, anxious for an opportunity to pass. The moment could be at hand.
