While he finished his photo session, I hung out with his long-time teacher and friend Hank Haney at the chipping green a few yards from O'Meara's front door. As we settled down for our conversation, Mark gave me a look and said, "Let me guess. You're here to talk about Tiger."

Him? Are you kidding? With the way you've been lighting it up?
Real funny, bud. Don't you want to analyze his "slump"?

Must be hard for him to sleep at night.
Even though he went majorless for once, he still might get Player of the Year. That's the kind of slump I'm trying to get into.

It's hard to believe it's been five years since you won The Masters and British Open when you were 41.
Until this year, 1998 was the last year Tiger didn't win a major. It was the last year I won majors. If he's in a slump, what would you call what I'm in?

Middle age?
Look who's talking. You know, my relationship with Tiger was a factor in those majors. It's like tennis; if you play with someone better than you, your ground strokes get sharper. In 1997 he said, "I don't understand why you haven't won a major. You can do it." Here I was, playing constantly with the best player in the world, and he's pushing me and I'm listening. And I'm believing. He may be almost 20 years younger, but when he talks about golf I open my ears.

Do you get tired of being asked about Tiger?
I am his biggest fan. Only once in a lifetime in every sport does a human being this special come along. We would have said no golfer could have so much impact. But he has.

Is the single-season slam on his to-do list?
He realizes it's an almost impossible feat, but he's the only one who could do it. Can he win all four from April to August? I imagine he thinks he can.

You two are unlikely best friends.
Maybe. Maybe not. I met Tiger when he was 17. I saw him at pro events he played in as an amateur. People have forgotten he was largely unsuccessful in those appearances. Then, when he turned pro, I think maybe his management team knew my personality and felt I might be the right type of person to help guide Tiger. He is a phenomenal listener; he is great at processing information. He might pick out 10 or 15 percent of what I say that can help him as a person or as a competitor. That expertise is one of the things that sets him apart.

Tell me something you said that he took to heart.
In his first or second year on Tour, he was under the highest scrutiny. He was getting really aggravated with himself on the golf course. Hitting things, never smiling. Going down the wrong road. I said, "Look, there is nothing wrong with getting mad on the golf course. You need that burning desire. But you cannot hit every shot perfectly. So laugh it off. Let it go. Because if you let it eat at you, it will hurt you. You won't be as acceptable to the gallery. Be a champion who can not only win tournaments but can be a great person." And he did it. What impresses me most about Tiger Woods is not the majors or the money list. It's that day in and day out he handles himself with unbelievable class.

I've heard Tiger call you Marko. What do you call him?
T. I call him T. Or "The Kid." I call him some other things, but I don't think you could print them.

When you won your two majors in 1998, did you go from being a solid player to being one of the best of your generation?
Winning at Augusta changed everything. I didn't play well in the first round -- two over. Didn't putt well. Yipped the living daylights out of it. Missed one from four feet on 10; didn't even hit the hole. You know how people put pressure on themselves in the majors? At 18 I missed from five feet. Yip! It may not have looked that bad, but it felt that way and I'm thinking, "How can you win The Masters if you can't make a putt from four feet on Thursday? How am I ever going to make one?"

Friday I shot 70. So I was back to even par. Saturday I shot 68, and next thing you know, on Sunday I birdie three out of the last four holes to win The Masters.

What was going through your head on the last hole, knowing you had a putt to win?
When you're in that position your heart is pumping pretty quick. Your mouth gets dry. You take a couple of deep breaths and let them out slowly, to calm yourself enough to make a decent stroke. As I was walking around, lining up my putt on 18, I had two thoughts. Number one: This is what you play for. And number two: It's not going to get any easier. Sooner or later you are going to have to make a putt. It might be now; it might be in a playoff. But you're going to have to hole something, and here's an opportunity. So instead of lagging it up there and taking my chances in a playoff with Fred Couples or David Duval, I thought, "Let's see if I.can't just close the deal."

I stroked the ball, and about two feet off the putter I knew I'd hit a good putt. It was rolling and I was thinking, "That looks pretty damn good. It's going to go in!" The last three or four inches I was thinking, "Please don't lip out." The trauma was incredible. When it went in I put my arms in the air. I thought, "Oh, my God, what have I just done?"

How cool is the Champions' Dinner?
Awesome. Magical. When I hosted the dinner in '99, I looked around and saw Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead. And Byron Nelson, who was never crazy about Snead's jokes, but I'll bet he misses them and Sam now. Arnie and Jack are there, and Tiger and Seve and Gary Player. Every year, Arnie and Jack give each other the needle, and everyone stops and listens.

Could you have won at Augusta if the course were as long as it is today?
Maybe not. I understand the club's decision to lengthen the course. Augusta always favored powerful players; with the lengthening, if it plays hard and fast the course is just going to be that much tougher for an average-length player.

What's your strongest memory of winning the British Open that same summer?
It was great having my family there at Birkdale -- my wife, Alicia, and our children, Michelle and Shaun. After I finished on Sunday, Brian Watts needed to birdie the last hole to beat me. His ball barely rolled into the front bunker, and we were sitting there on the back of the green. My son said, "Dad, I hope he screws up. I think he's going to screw up." Which is normal for a kid to say, wanting his father to win. I said, "Shaun, you always expect your opponent to do well. Inside, you may kind of hope he misses the putt, but you have to think he'll make it." He said, "Why?" I said, "Because you can't let your guard down."

So Watts is in the bunker. He's got one foot out and one foot in, and he hits the most spectacular shot; he hits it to six inches, right across the edge of the hole. And my son looks at me like, "OK, I understand."

Peter Jacobsen and Craig Stadler are older than you. You have a better record than either of them, and they won on the PGA Tour this year. Can you win again, too?
Of course I can. I can win on the regular Tour and later on the Champions Tour. I just need to break out of my little five-year majors celebration. I realize I'm not the player I once was, but a lot of that has to do with desire. Do I go up to the booth? Do I want to do TV and try to play golf? When you're not playing well and you're not sure what you want to do, golf becomes work. It's a midlife crisis, the 46-year-old no man's zone. You're playing against 20- and 25-year-olds who are frothing at the mouth to kick your butt. And that's cool; I'm fine with that. But in the last year and a half, I've made a new commitment. I just want to play competitive golf.

Will you play both tours or stick to just one?
If I'm competitive enough, I'll pick my spots and play a bit on both. I like playing guys half my age, but at some point I'll probably want to play with guys my own age.

Was it disorienting to have your neighbor put the green jacket on you?
Yeah, he never helps me dress when we're at home. [O'Meara and Woods both live at Isleworth.] After the 1998 Masters, Tiger put the green jacket on me because he was defending champion. For him to see me finally break through -- he enjoyed it. It meant something to him, and that's the side of Tiger Woods that makes him special. He's not soft, but he does have people he cares about. I know that I'm one of those people. I think if he couldn't keep the jacket in '98, I was the guy he most wanted to wear it instead.

What did he say to you after you knocked him off at the World Match Play that year?
We had dinner the night before the finals and he said, "Isn't this great? You and I are going to go head to head tomorrow. Two buds going at it. I'm so jacked." Then he goes and birdies four of the first six holes. He's got his head down; he's not saying one word to me. On the 7th hole I said, "Dude, what happened to two buds going at each other? Can you pull back the reins a little bit?" I didn't win a hole until the 11th. I hit a 9-iron to two feet on 11. He hit it on the back edge of the green and putted it down. Almost went in. So I threw him his ball and he turned his back to me. There's 3,000 people watching us play and I'm thinking, "He's not going to give me this two-footer? Come on." Finally I said, "Tiger?" And he says, "What?" He turns around. I said, "This is good, right? You're not going to make me putt this." He said, "Well, you haven't won a hole yet, have you?" So I knocked it in. Now he's kind of giggling, and I said, "Let me tell you something: If you ever make me putt one that short again, our friendship is over." I was serious. I said, "This is about sportsmanship." Now he was feeling a little guilty, and that's when I knew I had turned the tide on him.

Nicklaus said Tiger will play better if he gets married. Do you agree?
Tiger knows what's best for Tiger. In some ways he's a kid, but in others he's very wise for his years. Marriage has been great for me and for Jack, but who's to say if it'd be great for T? I think he's happy with his personal life. As his buddy, I.just want him to stay happy and to lose as much money to me on the course as possible.

After the British Open he went back to his old driver. Should it be such a big deal that Tiger's bag, a mix of Nike and Titleist equipment, now features a Titleist driver he used when he won a handful of majors?
If Tiger makes a switch, it's to give himself a better chance to win. But everything he does is blown out of proportion. Guys change clubs all the time -- out of superstition or for different courses or comfort or just for the sake of change. How come nobody notices when anyone else changes his starting line-up?

Who is the best player of your generation?
Probably Greg Norman.

Better than Nick?
I'd put them right together. Nick has been a tremendous player, but I'd probably give Greg a slight edge on him.

Even with the six majors to two?
How many majors does Price have?

I was thinking of Nick Faldo.
Good point. I overlooked Faldo. I shouldn't do that. But I'd still put Greg on top. He should have had more majors, obviously. Whether luck or fate messed him up, the guy should have 10 or 12. I'd make it Norman, Faldo and then Price.

Is there anyone who can challenge Tiger consistently?
Ernie Els has a lot of talent. There are some young guys who have come along, too. Adam Scott is a fine young player. Charlie Howell, too. But Tiger's main challenge is staying focused and motivated.

Is he going to break Nicklaus's records?
I think he will.

Are you more like his uncle or his best friend?
I'm his big brother.

The Lanny Wadkins we see on TV is quite different from the guy we know in real life. Do you think he's uncomfortable in his new role?
At first, Lanny was probably a little uncomfortable on CBS, but I think most people who haven't done TV work or haven't done what Peter Kessler does have no idea how difficult it can be. Lanny is doing a better job now than when he first got in the booth.

Who is cheaper, you or Tiger?
Tiger. Especially relative to our income brackets.

Given your past lack of enthusiasm for the Ryder Cup, are you interested in being captain?
I am. I would love to be captain. It's an interesting challenge. Our U.S. players are so individualistic that when you put them in a group, who knows what will happen? Over the last few years the Americans always have had a lot more pressure on them than the European team. On paper, we're better. There's no denying that. We should win. But we get over there and play not to lose. We shouldn't, but we play not to lose -- myself included, in the five Ryder Cups when I was on the team. Well, you know what happens with that mentality. You lose. You got to play to win. As captain, Hal Sutton will bring that philosophy to next year's team.

Why do you wash cars you are about to turn back in to the dealer?
It goes back to my upbringing. My mother was always on me to turn off the lights when I left my room. Now I'm on my children to do the same. And it blows my mind when people buy a car and don't maintain it, don't treat it with respect. I know it's just an item, but it's an item I've worked X amount of hours to gain enough money to buy. So I take care of it.

What's your analysis of Phil?
I know one thing. Phil Mickelson has a lot of talent. Phil has a gift for golf, but I get a kick out of the amount of time he takes away from the game, especially when he says he wants to be number one. I respect that Phil has a family and wants to take time to be with his family. That's great. But he's not the only professional golfer on the PGA Tour ever to have a child, is he?

Will Phil win his major championship?
Yes. He will. Phil is a very interesting human being. There's no evil in him, and he means well. He is always trying to gain more knowledge. Well, the only knowledge I want in golf is to figure out how in heck to beat Tiger Woods.

Of every 10 people who ask for an autograph, how many are out to make money off it?
I'd say three. Sometimes the autograph hounds are out and I'm thinking, "Come on guys, get serious." My autograph is worth 75 cents. When a guy takes a picture of me signing an Augusta National flag, I'm thinking, "Are you really a fan, or am I going to be seeing that on eBay?"

If you were PGA Tour commissioner for a day, what would you do?
I was on the policy board and was always disappointed with the pace of play on the Tour. I still am. We play way too slowly. We're the ones the amateurs watch on TV; we should be setting a better example.

What is the biggest fish you ever caught -- other than Tiger at the World Match Play?
I'm telling him you said that. I caught a 285-pound hammerhead shark. When I hooked him off Miami, the guy next to me said, "I think you got a hammerhead on the end of that line." I said, "Well, can we cut the line?" He said, "No, it's a steel line. You've got to go ahead and reel him up." It felt like I was bringing up a Volkswagen. Took me an hour and 20 minutes and when I got it reeled in, I was so sore. I think I pulled both my groin muscles. That fish kicked the living daylights out of me. And then we let it go.

My passion now is fly-fishing. I spend a tremendous amount of time out west in the rivers. I might be ranked 130th in the world in golf and not that high in fly-fishing, but I'm going in the right direction, at least with fly-fishing. In golf, I'm going the other way.

Are you still skiing?
I skied last week. My wife and I have a place in Park City, Utah. Both of my kids race. I get frustrated when my son challenges me to race -- and he goes down the ski run backward while I go down forward. It's a family adventure, far away from what I do for a living.

What are the chances you'll get Tiger on skis?
Not good. Tiger is such a perfectionist. He's like, "I'm not going to go out there and have your son doing 360s when I'm on the bunny slope. Ain't no way." But I have told him we can start off even at snowboarding; I've never snowboarded before and neither has Tiger. I have seen some of David Duval's snowboard moves. Wow. I mean, he is out of control. He is so good, it's incredible. I don't think Tiger and I will ever go there.

Last question -- and it's about your buddy. Have you ever seen anyone improve as quickly as Tiger did from 1998 through 2000?
No. Once again, 38 PGA Tour victories by the time he turned 27. He's been playing the Tour eight years and has won almost 40 tournaments. I don't ever want to sound disrespectful to Jack Nicklaus; judging by his record, Jack is by far the greatest player ever. I didn't play with Jack when he was in his prime, and I don't want him to get mad at me, but I find it hard to believe there has ever been a player who has played golf like Tiger Woods. The best mind, the best heart, the best driver, the best long-iron player, the best middle-iron player, the best short-iron player, the most creativity, the best short game and best putter -- Tiger is number one in all those categories. There is no denying his place at the top.