American Todd Hamilton is now officially the "champion golfer of the year," as the British Open winner is traditionally introduced at the awards ceremony. Hamilton, a little-know journeyman who had spent most of his career in Japan before making it to the PGA Tour this year and then winning the Honda Classic, earned the title Sunday with a display of grit, clutch putting, superb chipping, wind-cheating shots and in general, the look of a player who breathes links-style golf and was clearly at home here at Royal Troon.

Hamilton won a playoff duel with Ernie Els to become the champion golfer of the year. The most important part of the 133rd Open Championship, however, may be that we now have a clearer picture of just who is the champion golfer of the world. While Tiger Woods tied for ninth after faltering on Troon's back nine, which he played in five over par, and remains No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings, Troon cemented what we already knew. He's no longer the real No. 1. Look who's on the leaderboard in every major championship to find the real No. 1, and right now that would be an inseparable field entry -- Els, your Open and Masters runnerup, and Phil Mickelson, your Masters champion and third-place finisher at Troon.

Els and Mickelson are doing what Woods used to do on a regular basis -- get in position to win with nine holes to go. Mickelson made just one bogey over the last 54 holes at Troon. It's difficult to say which is more surprising -- that stat or the fact that despite it, Mickelson didn't win. It may be further proof that it's getting tougher to win these days and that the posse that once pursued Woods has closed the gap and, in the case of Ernie and Phil, passed Tiger completely. You'd think a flurry of pars would be good enough at Troon, where the flags never stopped flapping straight out all week. Mickelson thought so, too, but he was off by one shot. That lone bogey, which came Sunday when he overshot the 13th green, kept him from joining the playoff.

"I didn't feel like it was a lost chance," Mickelson said. "I played very well and thought if I could get to the top of the leaderboard with nine to go, I could make nine pars on the back side. I couldn't see that many birdies out there. It's very difficult to get the ball close to the hole in that cross wind. I was playing for pars and thought shooting even par was going to be good enough. What Todd and Ernie did is really incredible."

Hamilton made three birdies on the final nine and would have won in regulation if he hadn't chopped his way up the 18th, driving into the right rough, pulling an iron into the left rough over by the gallery railing, pitching long and two-putting for bogey. Els was on the ropes after the front nine. An errant drive at the tough 10th into the left rough forced him to play from a sidehill lie in the hay with the ball almost waist-high. He didn't get that one out of the rough and made a double. He hit into a worse spot on the 11th hole. When he arrived at his ball in the right rough, he found his ball hanging on a branch of a thorny gorse bush, about chest high. He carefully whacked it out like Barry Bonds going after a high fastball, knocked it onto the green and made the putt for an amazing par. If he had fluffed that shot and the ball dropped onto the ground in the gorse, he almost certainly would have been forced to take an unplayable lie and would have been looking at a big, big number. "When I got to my ball, I was like, what's going on?" Els said. "I've never seen that happen. I was very happy to make a 4."

Els birdied three of the last six holes to get back in the race, the biggest stroke being a clutch birdie at the par-3 17th that kept him within one shot of Hamilton. He had a 12-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole for the win but left it short. The putt was considerably more treacherous than it looked on television. He had to putt over a slight ridge downhill to the cup with a sharp right-to-left break. He had nearly the same putt on the last hole of the playoff when, one shot behind, he had to make it to prolong the playoff.

"Right now, the putt on the 72nd hole, that's the putt I'm going to be thinking about," Els said. "I hit such a good second shot and had such a difficult putt. If I'd known how difficult it was from there, I'd have hit it past the pin, which I tried to do in the playoff. I had my chances, though."

Els and Mickelson are the best players in golf right now and they've proven it in the majors. Hold your thumb and your forefinger a half-inch apart and that's how close they are to giving us that rivalry that golf supposedly needs. Ironic, isn't it, that we've got the makings of a true rivalry -- two great players butting heads in majors repeatedly -- and neither of them is Tiger Woods?

The Open was confirmation that Mickelson is indeed a new, improved and entirely different player from a year ago. Of course, if he was Tiger Woods, we'd probably be asking what's wrong with him since he's finished first, second and third in his last three majors. He was never a factor in British Opens before because he was a power player, a high-ball hitter with a draw who had difficult controlling his distances in the wind. Now he's capable of winning any major.

"I've been working hard on the shots that are required over here," Mickelson said. "I also studied the course and how to play it. I love this tournament, I just haven't played well here in the past. It's disappointing to fall short here but it's also very encouraging to know that I'm able to contend in this championship."

Els and Mickelson aren't dominating golf the way Woods once did but they're as close as you can come without doing so. Mickelson has played in 16 tournaments this year and had seven top-three finishes, including wins in the Masters and the Bob Hope tournament. He's been out of the top ten in only four of the 16 events and this third at the British Open means he's got the third-place Slam covered -- that is, he has finished third or better in all four majors. Els has two wins in the U.S. (the Memorial and the Sony Open), another in Europe (Heineken Classic) and 13 top-tens in 17 starts on both tours. His last three major finishes are second, ninth and second. That's phenomenal stuff.

Going into Troon, Woods was first, Els was second, Vijay Singh was third and Mickelson was fourth in the official rankings. In our unofficial rankings, Ernie and Phil should be 1 and 2--or should that be 2 and 1? Actually, they should probably share the No. 1 ranking and we'll let the PGA Championship be the tiebreaker.

There's one more bit of irony, perhaps. What Phil and Ernie are doing may be the best thing ever to happen to Woods. Remember, when he won four straight majors, he was winning some of them by seven, eight, ten shots--just devastating the fields. The next few years in his career could be the most interesting. His challenge has been answered. It was easy for him before, maybe too easy. Now he's got some players pushing him. It should be exciting to see how he responds.

Meanwhile, Els and Mickelson are the best players in golf, in no particular order. If you didn't believe it before, the proceedings at Royal Troon should have convinced you. Hamilton is the champion golfer of the year but Lefty and Ernie are the real heavyweight champions of golf for now.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle writes for the magazine's Golf Plus section and is a regular contributor to SI.com.