You could mention them in the same breath in those days and it is now recalled that Tiger Woods and Steve Webster made their first appearance in the Open Championship at St Andrews in 1995. As amateurs.
And, as the record books still remind us, Webster won the silver medal, beating Woods by no fewer than six shots.
There were echoes of that momentous event at the Old Course yesterday. For Woods came in with a 66, six under par and prominent among the men who chased him with the greatest craft and ardour, who at one stage caught him, was Webster.
The Atherstone golfer actually went to the turn in 30 against Woods's 32.
He came back, alas, in 41 and is no longer on a leaderboard that shows that a littleknown Australian, Mark Hensby, has got to within a shot of Woods.
There are nine players two shots adrift of the favourite and they include Retief Goosen, Jos> Maria Olazabal, Luke Donald and the young Scottish amateur, Eric Ramsay.
If Webster's collapse suggests catastrophe, this does not show in his demeanour.
"One under's still not a bad score," he said. "And the weather's turning.
"I hit two bad drives, that's all but I'm quite happy in the end."
He made a brilliant save from the bunker on the Road Hole. His front-nine gallop included eagles at the fifth (which he eagled ten years ago) and the ninth.
His problems began on the tenth where he found a bunker from the tee and then narrowly missed his parsaving putt. It was sand most of the way from there, six bunkers in all.
"If you hit fairways, you can see the pins. If you hit bunkers, you're coming out sideways," was his simple explanation.
He definitely lives on to fight today and, because he's out at 7.36, he could miss the wind.
Woods's words of Wednesday hung in the air all day.
"If the wind doesn't blow, the guys will shoot some numbers."
The wind blew a bit early on, but not much and while the numbers were good, they were not exceptional. Except Woods's numbers, that is.
From the fourth, he had seven birdies in nine holes and one of these came in a truly noteworthy way.
After playing the whole of the 2000 Open, plus this year's practice rounds without finding sand, the great man drove into the trap at the seventh. From where he proceeded to play an imperious long recovery to within 6ft.
Which said something about his game but not as much as St Andrews said on the subject of bunkers six holes later. Woods was in the gritty stuff on the 13th and bogeyed and he was trapped on the 16th and bogeyed again.
No, Tiger, even you cannot go into these bunkers with impunity.
But he had a neat birdie on the 18th and came in to say that he was very happy.
"Finishing at six under is a great start to the tournament. I feel like I'm playing really well."
St Andrews, on account of the breeze, felt like two different courses, the inward holes the easiest ones. His score had equalled the best opening round by a champion in the Open but as he explained: "you really have to think your way around here."
He had still hit a wedged second to six of the holes.
Hensby is one of those surprise packets that the Open usually throws up.
He's a 34-year-old from Melbourne who lives in America and who, until this season, was to be found on the Nationwide Tour. But he's got form, as he showed in the US Open where he finished tied third. He came home in 33.
Not only has he not played in the Open before, he has never played in Europe so this was some introduction to links golf.
"I played well," he said, unnecessarily. "The eagle on the ninth got me going." He is, it seems, proud of his short game.
Goosen's 68 was a sound score in the context of this Open and especially so when the US Open is brought to mind. He was going to win that last month but blew up in the final round.
To pick up the majors thread as positively as this, then, was gratifying and his score, he said, was down to his intimate knowledge of the course. He knows the bail-out areas, he knows the greens and he knows how they break.
"I was confident with all the lines that I picked." He had picked the wrong club for his second to the 17th but had saved his par.
"Whenever you walk off that hole with a four or a five, you're very happy."
As he had assured everyone the day before, Donald was not at all put out by the presence in his threeball of those venerable gentlemen, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson. There were, obviously, distractions.
"And I'm proud of the way I handled them," said Donald. "It was a lot of fun playing with those greats and the atmosphere was amazing. It was nice to play some good golf but this was just a solid start, nothing more. There are still three rounds to go but I am happy with my start."
Donald had made just one mistake, hitting a five-iron through the green on the 11th. Five birdies left him healthily in profit.
Peter Lonard's card of 68 had seven birdies and an eagle on it.
"I was happy about that," he said, "but disappointed that I was so inconsistent." He doublebogeyed the third, bogeyed the 11th and dropped another two shots on the next.
"All in all, it was pretty good to get away with four under."
Ramsay's round was a joy to all the Scotsmen present. He hasn't been selected for the Walker Cup and had turned up at St Andrews "to see how I could play."
How he could play was worth seven birdies and whatever happens to him in the rest of the tournament, he has given impetus to his ambition to become a professional. He has a handicap of plus-four and he'll be trying for his card at Tour School in the autumn.
One of the disappointing rounds of the day was played by Lee Westwood, who had finished so brilliantly in last year's Open and who was now regarded as one of England's strong hopes.
He started with a six at the first. Now St Andrews' first must be the easiest opening hole in championship golf. The fairway is as wide as the Pampas and you can hit it anywhere and have a straightforward shot to the green.
Westwood hit his drive down the left centre. He then had 90 yards to the pin - and didn't make it. He sand-wedged his second straight into the burn, put too many shots thereafter into the sand and he now has a messy 76 to recover from.
"You want to get off to a good start," he said. " Knocking it into the stream at the first is not the way to do it."
There was one cheering thought, though. He had double-bogeyed the first at Troon last year and came back to finish fourth.
Colin Montgomerie, who put his opening tee shot into the burn, managed a bogey and featuring high in a round of 71 was the par that he saved on the 17th. His second shot finished on the road but he putted from the Tarmac and his ball climbed the grassy slope before coming to rest a couple of feet from the hole.
Fellow Scot Sandy Lyle, a one-time son of Hawkestone Park, in Shropshire, played the hole rather differently.
He was out of bounds from the tee, got on the green in four then missed a threefooter for a seven, two over par overall. But still an improvement on the unfortunate Zach Johnson, of the United States. Johnson took nine.
