Most of the golf world was riveted to the Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson showdown that never materialized. The theater, of course, was too perfect, especially given the juicy prelude to the Buick Invitational, when Mickelson said in a magazine interview that Woods excelled despite "inferior equipment.''
All of that talk fizzed Sunday in San Diego, where Mickelson could not muster a charge in his hometown while Woods cruised to his 35th PGA Tour title despite taking two months off after knee surgery.
Meanwhile, Down Under, the Big Easy was smiling that big smile. By the time Woods was picking up his hardware, Ernie Els was half a day removed from trying to figure out what to do with his latest haul. A victory in Perth, Australia at the Johnnie Walker Classic means four victories in five starts this year for the big South African.
And if it weren't for an inexplicable brain cramp on the 72nd hole of the Singapore Masters, where an unknown Chinese golfer stole the title, Els would be a perfect five-for-five this season.
Not that he's complaining.
Els won by a whopping 10 shots in Australia at 29-under, setting the PGA European Tour scoring record in the process. Just five weeks ago, he snagged the PGA Tour scoring record when he won the season-opening Mercedes Championship (31-under). Not only does Els lead the money list on both tours, he holds the all-time scoring record on both as well.
Going back to last year, Els has won six of his last eight starts, a run reminiscent to Woods' 2000 season, when he won nine PGA Tour titles. The difference, of course, was that Woods won three consecutive major championship titles. Woods' stretch was more impressive because the tournaments were bigger and the competition greater.
Still, anyone who plays professional golf will tell you it's difficult to win any week, no matter the competition.
And Els is doing his best to make a run at Woods, challenge his dominance -- even if he tries to shy away from such talk.
"You guys are really starting to talk about it,'' Els said in Australia. "I'm just doing what I'm doing. I'm trying to play better golf. I've said, week in, week out, I want to be competitive and I want to feel I can win tournaments when I play. So far, I've been doing that and I want to keep doing that. I want to keep improving ... I'm sure a lot of other players are trying to do the same thing.
"It's not me against Tiger or Tiger against me. I think it's us against the golf course and trying to win golf tournaments.''
Good luck selling that theory, Ernie, the first time you see Tiger in a tournament.
That is scheduled to occur next week at the Match Play Championship in Carlsbad, Calif., where Woods and Els will be the top two seeds. However, the format of that tournament makes such a showdown highly unlikely. In the first four years of the event, the top two seeds have not come close to making it to the final.
So a more likely scenario will occur when they play together in their first stroke-play event of the year. That's scheduled to occur in two weeks at the Dubai Desert Classic, where Els is the defending champion. If world events in the Middle East do not conspire to keep Els and Woods away, the Golf Channel could see its highest ratings ever for the European tour event.
Two weeks later, the duo is scheduled to meet again at the Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando, where Woods will attempt to win Arnold Palmer's event for the fourth consecutive year.
While Woods appears to be no worse for his time off, and might even be better for it, Els will have to guard against burnout.
Last year, he started out in similar busy fashion, winning in South Africa and Australia, then hanging on to beat Woods at Doral before heading to Dubai and winning there.
When he returned to the United States, Els seemed spent. He did contend at the Masters, but fell apart on the back nine and didn't really get it together again until winning the British Open.
Now, he's really got it together.
"It's shaping up great,'' said Australian Craig Parry. "Ernie has come out this year with all guns blazing. He is not making many mistakes and those he makes he's getting away with them. He is so long off the tee he is taking the bunkers out of play and obviously his putting is great. You can never count Tiger out. He is the best golfer in the world for a reason. You'd be a game man betting against him.''
Woods admitted he watched the end of Els' record-setting victory on the Golf Channel on Sunday morning. He pointed out that not only is Els bombing the ball off the tee, but making the putts, too.
He knows what's coming. And he appears to relish it.
Bob Harig covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times, and is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at harig@sptimes.com