- The Once-Big Five:  It was just slightly more than two years ago, on April Fools Day, 2006, that the Official World Ranking last justified us speaking of golf’s “Big Five,” an imposing agglomeration of talent which included, in ranking order, Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els.  And at that moment, their dominance of worldwide professional golf remained impressive, with Woods established as a near-perennial world number one, Singh coming off a remarkable 2004-05 run which included 13 PGA Tour wins, Goosen having two of the previous five U.S. Opens in his pocket, Mickelson owning 27 PGA Tour wins (including two Majors) and Els, though still recovering from a 2005 knee injury, owning some 55 victories worldwide, including three Majors.  And two years hence?  Tiger remains Tiger when playing, meaning his stranglehold on the number one spot as about as absolute as absolute can get.  But sitting out the duration of 2008 after major reconstructive knee surgery, there must be at least an edge of doubt as to how soon we’ll see him back in top-shelf competitive form – perhaps by the 2009 Masters?  Singh, easily the oldest of the fivesome, appears slightly on the downside now, having not won in the U.S. in more than a year, and finishing no better than a T13 (with three MCs) in his last eight Major starts.  At age 45, and still ranked 10th in the world, he is hardly a pushover, but clearly his days of consistently rating among the elite are clearly behind him.  Goosen, who turned 40 in February, has endured the steepest plunge of the five, his once-impeccable swing having been rebuilt in 2007, his world ranking currently sitting at an unimposing 36th.  Save a tie for 2nd at the 2007 Masters, his recent Major record largely matches Singh – and despite flashes of the old Goosen (e.g. a T2 at the WGC-CA Championship), he’s showing little to suggest a return to the top five is in the offing.  Mickelson, on the other hand, has climbed, rising to number two worldwide behind six subsequent PGA Tour wins and a level of play consistently exceeded only by Woods.  And then there is Big Ernie, another whose once-dreamlike swing has undergone a recent overhaul, and whose confidence may never have returned fully from the aforementioned knee injury.  With an American win at March’s Honda Classic, a T6 at the Players Championship and four MCs, he has literally been all over the place in recent months.  Still, he has hauled himself back up to number six worldwide, and certainly seems enough on form to contend next week at Royal Birkdale.  Oh yes, the current world top five?  Woods, Mickelson, Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy and Stewart Cink.  And while Cink might be enjoying a career run at present, both Scott and Ogilvy appear to have what it takes to stay close to Woods and Mickelson for a while.  The new Big Four?

- Where Have You Been?:  The saying “You can’t win a tournament on Thursday, but you can certainly lose it” represents one of the game’s more valid observations, but even with 54 more holes to play at the Barclay’s Scottish Open, several of the names present atop the leaderboard are…a little surprising.  Leading, with a fine 64, is 38-year-old Thongchai Jaidee, Thailand’s first international star but a man who, save for a T2 at the Hong Kong Open, has done little of note since 2006, and entered the week ranked 153rd in the world.  One stroke back stand 2007 U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera, hardly a forgotten man (he remains ranked 26th in the world) but one who hasn’t bettered 12th at stroke play in either Europe or America in 2008.  Also near the top are Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn (once a regular in the world top 20, now ranked 182nd), Sweden’s Johan Edfors (a three-time E Tour winner in 2006, currently ranked 157th) and, though not as well positioned as he was early in the day, 2005 U.S. Open winner Michael Campbell (who’s plunged to 391st in the world).  It will be interesting to see if any of these fellows can hang around through Sunday, as 48-year-old David Frost did at last week’s European Open.