Vijay Singh is coming off back-to-back tournament wins. Darren Carroll/SI

By Chris Lewis, SI.com

It's a Tiger week on Tour, the first in nearly a month.

But early on at the Wachovia Championship, the name on everyone's mind in Charlotte was Vijay Singh.

Joe Ogilvie, valiant but doomed loser to Singh at the HP Classic of New Orleans on Monday, could only shrug as he walked through the parking lot on his way to the Quail Hollow driving range on Tuesday morning. "I thought I played good enough to win," said the young Dukie, author of a final round 68. "Unfortunately, I got run over by a steamroller."

"It's pretty clear to me that Veej is the best player in the world right now," said Hank Keuhne, one of Singh's two or three closest Tour pals, and the first man to congratulate him on his win on the range on Tuesday. "I don't think there are a lot of people out here who'd disagree."

Keuhne's right. With Vijay coming off back-to-back wins -- New Orleans, and the previous week at the Shell Houston Open -- it's impossible to find a dissenter.

"He's driving the ball incredibly well," said Scott Hoch, one of Singh's playing partners Thursday. "He's hitting that thing so straight, it's almost like he wants to hit driver on the par-3s, too, and chip back to the greens. It's unreal how good he's playing."

Funny how things change. Not long ago, Tiger's World No. 1 looked like a lifetime appointment.

Now there's a remarkably different vibe. As far as Singh's peers are concerned, it remains only for the official numbers to catch up to common knowledge, and move Singh ahead of Woods.

But the wait may not be long. In fact, Singh could overtake Woods at No. 1 in as few as two weeks, according to Ian Barker, Wentworth, England-based custodian of the World Golf Rankings.

"Right now, the gap is only 2.14 points," Barker said during a very expensive phone call (at least for a sportswriter) on Wednesday morning. (Actually, that 2.14 points is a per-week points average -- Tiger's points average presently stands at 12.96, and Vijay's at 10.82. But Barker was calling the figures "points," so I will, too.) "Winning New Orleans, Vijay picked up about half a point on [the idle] Tiger. It's fair to say no one's been this close since the Rankings were revamped in 2001.

"The Wachovia," Barker continued, "is a big tournament because of the strength of the field." Five of the top six players in the world, and eight of the top 12, are in Charlotte this week. "If Vijay wins this week, and Tiger finishes... let's see... I'd say, any worse than 50th, the gap will close to about one point."

Now, let's review that math. One Vijay win plus one poor Tiger outing whittles the differential down to one point. So if that happens twice -- this week, and again next week at the Byron Nelson, where Tiger and Vijay are both in the field -- that's another swing of over a point, and we have a new World No. 1! Right, Ian?

Er, maybe. "It's... possible," Barker replied, hedging. "It depends on the strength of field at the Byron. If the field there is as strong as Wachovia, it could happen. I mean, mathematically."

So the field next week in Dallas is a big contingency. Oh, and then there are those other pesky conditions: two (more) consecutive Vijay wins and two consecutive ugly Tiger performances. Still, that's not out of the question. Is it?

Another whoa, this time from a different source. "I wouldn't put it past Vijay to win two more in a row," said Keuhne. "But the other thing -- Tiger worse than 50th, two weeks straight? Um, I don't know about that."

OK, so maybe we were getting carried away. Maybe two weeks is too soon for a new No. 1. But before you pshaw these musings entirely, let Barker finish talking.

"What will be really interesting," he said, "is what happens after the U.S. Open. That's the potentially big swing, where it could really get close. The last major Tiger won was Bethpage in 2002, and after Shinnecock Hills -- -the site of this year's U.S. Open -- "those points are going to expire. He's going to lose a lot of ground."

A World Ranking point of comparison: last June, when Retief Goosen's 2001 Southern Hills U.S. Open victory expired, it cost him about four-tenths of a point, a precipitous drop.

No matter what happens this week, if an off-form Tiger shows up at Shinnecock, the door will be wide open. And Vijay will be poised to drive straight through it, especially if he keeps amassing points at his present rate on the way to Long Island.

Gentleman, start your steamroller.

Chris Lewis covers golf for SI.com