Since Tiger Woods victory at the 2008 US Open, there have been 16 different major champions in 16 majors. It's the longest streak without a repeat champion since golf went to a four-major calendar in the 1930's.
In a press conference with reporters on Tuesday, Woods talked about how the sport has changed in the last decade:
"Golf is getting deep. There's so many guys with a chance to win," Woods said. The margins are so small, and if you've got margins that are that small you're going to get guys who win once here and there."
"If you just make the cut nowadays you're within nine shots of the lead sometimes. That's easily doable on a weekend. And it's just amazing -- you've got 70-plus guys within 10 shots it seems like at every Tour event. That wasn't always the case. It used to be 14, 15 shots sometimes, but it's just so much smaller now, the margins."
In many ways, Woods is the victim of his own success, as his popularity has brought in huge amounts of money and worldwide interest to the sport of golf, as well as a whole new generation of golfers who grew up hoping to emulate Woods at the major championships.
But while the amount of quality competitors in the modern game has made putting together a run of major victories like Woods did in the early 2000's seem unlikely, it also has allowed older players to hang around far past what their prime would have been a generation ago as well.
Ernie Els, after all, just won the British Open at the age of 42.
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