Vijay, Retief, Ernie, Sergio need to pick up the pace

	Phil shows Ernie his secret weapon to winning two consecutive majors. AP

In our instant-gratification world, the question of the day is: Do we still have a Big Five in professional golf?

The World Ranking still lists Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els as the top five, with Sergio Garcia close behind. Woods, Singh and Els are the only ones who have enjoyed top five status since 2003.

But maybe a larger question is: How do the players compare regardless of World Ranking?

If you base the answer solely on majors (let's use the last five in keeping with the "what have you done lately" theme), it's fairly cut and dry. Woods won two in 2005 and missed a natural Grand Slam by four shots. His average finish in the last five majors? Second place.

Mickelson, meanwhile, has won the last two and was just five shots away from a 2004 Slam, but he also finished T-33 and T-60 in the '05 U.S. and British Opens, respectively.

Here's how each of the Big Five has fared in the last five majors. We're also including Garcia in the chart, as he's closer to Els than Els is to Goosen in the World Ranking.

The data shows why the rivalry talk centers on Woods and Mickelson -- because it's all about wins, baby. Only Michael Campbell's '05 U.S. Open victory put a pause in Tiger's and Phil's recent run.

Singh has four Tour wins since January '05 but owns a major goose egg despite consistently being in the hunt. Goosen possesses only one win (the '05 International), and Els has no wins. Sure, Ernie was hurt last year after the British Open, but his performance was substandard even before he wrecked his knee.