KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C.—Here in golf's age of equality and fraternity, any man might win a major championship so long as his back is limber, his mind is right, and his courtesy car doesn't break down on the way to the course.
Sixteen different players have won the past 16 professional majors, suggesting that they have begun handing out these big trophies to each according to his need. There has not been this kind of title turnover in a quarter of a century.
Should you think a 17th unique winner is out of the question this week at the PGA Championship, consider that golf has gotten deeper than Kierkegaard. They have barely dipped a toe into the pool of possibilities.
The No. 1-ranked player in the world, Luke Donald, is still eligible to extend the streak of different champions. He hasn't won any kind of major, ever, let alone any of those past 16 dating to the 2008 PGA Championship.
As a matter of fact, seven of the world's top 10 players, as well as 12 of the top 20, could win this week and add a name to that roster of recent major winners.
That includes the guy most responsible for this outbreak of egalitarianism as the one who inspired a generation to work harder and drive longer, then got out of their way for a while.
"There are so many guys with a chance to win," Tiger Woods said. "The margins are so small [between winning and finishing T-70]. If you've got margins that small, you're going to get guys who win once here and there."
Without Woods' dominating presence, golf has opened itself to all comers. Just how many Y.A. Yangs (2009 PGA) and Lucas Glovers (2009 U.S. Open) the game can afford before fans start demanding a giant to rally around or against is a matter of conjecture.
As you might suspect, those in the industry are all for the current state of things. "For viewers at home, I think it's more exciting to watch a tournament not really knowing who's going to win," said this year's U.S. Open champion, Webb Simpson. Then, engaging in a slight bit of hyperbole, he added, "There were five or 10 years where you knew one or two guys were going to win."
Golf is stuck now trying to identify who is merely the flavor of the moment and who might be the next big thing. After winning the 2011 U.S. Open by an overwhelming eight strokes, Rory McIlroy was being measured for instant greatness. In the five majors since, he has missed one cut and has an average finish of 47th in the other four.
Bubba Watson was all the rage after winning a Masters playoff this year, but since has been extraordinarily quiet for a fellow who can make a golf ball cry.
You throw in the occasional Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen into the mix, as if to turn golf into some kind of unwinnable spelling bee, then it becomes just too hard to try to keep up with all the newly minted champions. Their sheer number overwhelms.
Theories as to why so many are doing so much mostly center around the very plain fact that there is an overabundance of very good players. Apparently, the world is not even close to running out of talented golfers.
"I just think right now the fields are very deep," Donald said. "There isn't that one guy who is really distancing himself from the rest.
"I guess the longer the streak goes, the more encouragement it gives to those guys who haven't yet won a major, like myself."
McIlroy added one new twist Wednesday, suggesting that all the newfangled equipment has served as a great equalizer, making it possible for the more marginal players to hang.
"I think 25 years ago, you had the really good players who could play with basically anything," he said, "and nowadays, the technology lets some of the maybe lesser players catch up to the better players."
Ernie Els, who circled back 18 years after winning his first major to claim last month's British Open, is certainly one who would believe that much in life is cyclical. Although he is not promising the coming of the next repeat winner anytime soon. "The next 10 years, we could see similar guys win majors again," he assured.
The only thing better than winning a major is winning a second one. With that comes insurance against all claims of being a happy fluke.
The winner of last year's PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club is quite aware of the advantages of winning majors in multiples and is eager to get on with it. "There have been a lot of first-time major winners and a lot of very great players that could easily win their second this week or at Augusta [next year] or soon. I sure would love to be the guy to win two," Keegan Bradley said.
A Keegan Bradley Era presumably would be better than no era at all.
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