What makes David Duval and Tiger Woods so essential to golf these days is that it's so hard to imagine this game without them now.
After Woods arrived on the pro circuit in September of 1996, he threw an immediate gauntlet to his competitors, obliterating a '97 Masters field and winning seven times in his first two seasons.
His message: Keep up with me, or get trampled by the lead pack.
Woods rose to No. 1, reaching the top of the World Ranking in just over two years on the PGA Tour.
``Two years go by pretty quick in my life,'' the 23-year-old 1997 Masters champion said. ``I've got one friend that tells me that I live in dog years. I keep reminiscing and keep thinking about the Masters. It seems like eons ago when I won, a good five, six years since I turned pro, and it wasn't that long ago.''
Keeping up with Woods became a necessity. Then along came four-time Georgia Tech All-American Duval, who closed his 1997 with three consecutive wins, then backed that year up with four more and an emotionally crushing Masters loss to Mark O'Meara.
Duval won the scoring and money titles. Then, to start his '99 season, Duval blistered the Mercedes field in Hawaii and in between snow-boarding trips to Idaho became the first PGA Tour golfer to shoot a final-round 59 to steal the Bob Hope Classic.
Duval became a millionaire this season after two events.
If Woods established new tour parameters, Duval matched his ante, then raised the pot. By winning The Players Championship in March, Duval overthrew Woods as golf's No. 1 player, claiming his 10th win in 33 starts.
Welcome to golf's newest rivalry.
``I hope I will play well enough to be a rival of his for a long, long time,'' Duval said.
``I don't see how you can say that David Duval and I are the two best,'' Woods said. ``The depth of the field right now makes winning very difficult. Over time, it is going to be very difficult to get a rivalry going between two players. You might have four, five guys competing and winning plenty of tournaments around the world, but I think to go head-to-head, such as Arnold and Jack did, and Watson and Jack did, that is going to be very difficult to do.
``Anybody who plays golf here knows that they can win any given week.''
And everyone who plays golf understands that Woods and Duval have parlayed enormous distance off the tee, a pin-seeking mentality and aggressive putting strokes into 18 wins and roughly $15.5 million between them through March.
``If we're going to compete with them,'' 28-year-old Phil Mickelson said, ``we're going to have to find a way to shoot lower scores. How do you do that? There's ways besides just ball-striking. One of them is conditioning. One would be mentally how you approach a course, as well as improving ball- striking and chipping and putting.''
After Duval climbed to No. 2 in the rankings, it seemed to ignite Woods' game. Woods contended in Phoenix, then won the Buick Invitational in San Diego by shooting 17-under on the weekend. And by lasting longer in the World Match Play event, Woods and his consistent finishes captured the ``King of Swing'' West Coast $100,000 bonus.
``I wish I could turn my game on and off like that,'' Woods said. ``That is not the case. We are pushing each other. You may shoot a good round, but you have got to keep backing it up. I remember Nicklaus shooting 72s and 73s on an off-day and still having a chance to win. Now if you do that you usually get lapped, and you have to come back with a 63 or 64, just to try and get back in the hunt.''
Duval didn't take long to strike back. After a three-week hiatus, he returned to his hometown tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., and was one of two golfers to finish The Players under par. His season's third title pushed his '99 earnings to more than $2.1 million and his first foray atop the World Golf Rankings.
Entering the Masters, these are the two prohibitive favorites, Woods for his record-shattering '97 triumph and his consistency since then, and Duval for scaring the competition into thinking he's the favorite in every event he enters.
With three holes to play a year ago, Duval held a three-shot lead, only to miss his par putt on 16, barely miss his birdie at 17, then leave his 18-footer on 18 on the low side of the hole. He watched from the Jones Cabin as O'Meara dismissed any playoff possibilities with his final two birdies.
``I think that if I play well, I can win that golf tournament,'' Duval said. ``I can play the course well enough, and I have a bit of enough knowledge to know how to get around there. I got a little bit of a taste of what if feels like to contend last year, and I certainly think I'm capable.''
Chip shots: David Duval
Wears sunglasses when he plays because his eyes are sensitive to sunlight.
Chip shots: Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods was named after a Vietnamese friend of his father during the Vietnam War.
Tiger and Duval: Arnie and Jack of the '90s? 