CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- Michael Kim, winner of the John Deere Classic, was walking to the 13th tee at The Open on Thursday when he looked up and suddenly found himself surrounded by reporters and cameramen rushing into position at a nearby hole.
"Are you all following someone famous?" Kim asked in a playful, sing-songy way.
Only the most famous golfer who has ever lived.
Tiger Woods shot even-par 71 in the first round at Carnoustie, leaving him five shots behind leader Kevin Kisner. Woods still has a chance to make The Open his 15th major championship title, and his first in 10 years. But even if Woods and his stiff, 42-year-old neck ultimately falter on the toughest course in the Open rotation, Thursday offered a stark reminder of the magnitude of Tiger's star power and the impact it has had on those who idolized him in his prime and still idolize him now.
One of Woods' playing partners, Russell Knox, did not need to be awestruck in Tiger's presence. He has three worldwide victories. He stands among the world's 50 best players. Knox is a homegrown Scot, too, playing The Open on his turf, not Tiger's. He is 33, not 23, and as Woods said, "I don't know how nervous he can be. He just won last week, right?"
Knox actually won the Irish Open two weeks ago, but Woods' point was understood.
"We're in a major championship," he said. "So obviously, we're all nervous. We all have to battle those nerves, and this golf course ... it's not easy."
Especially when you're trying to conquer it during golf's de facto world championship while trading punches with the ultimate heavyweight champ. At 5-foot-10 and 155 pounds soaking wet out of a burn, Knox looked like a featherweight when standing next to the sculpted Woods. Only it wasn't physical size that separated the two combatants. It was the wide-eyed look on Knox's face while he played "dreadful" golf, in his words, en route to what was a respectable 2-over 73.
When it was over, Knox did not come across as someone who had just three-putted the 18th green. He couldn't conceal his glee over playing with Woods for the first time, nor did he bother denying the fact he had been unnerved, rattled, thrown off his game, you name it.
Knox spoke of fighting so much tension in his swing, and of feeling something other than "normal" on the golf course.
"I mean, it's Tiger Woods," Knox said. "How would you feel playing with him?"
Twisted, like a million pretzels. Knox was 11 when he watched Woods win the 1997 Masters. He hung a poster of Tiger on his bedroom wall.
"I've played in front of loads of people for the last eight years," Knox said. "But I mean, I think it's a little different knowing who you're playing with. I think he's the best golfer of all time. He's definitely the person I looked up to. ... He's a person I've seen on the range in the past, and he's almost like a mythical figure."
Knox was asked how he got that feeling out of his system. You know, that feeling of being sized up by a mythical figure.
"You don't," he said. "I don't want to get it out of my system."
He called Woods his hero, and no, you can't just fire away at the flagsticks when your hero is watching your every move and reaching his own conclusions about whether or not you have the goods to someday win a big one. So you battle your emotions, your own demons and doubts, and do the best you can while shooting the most glorious 73 of your life.
Knox realizes that this is the coolest part about golf, this bridging of the generations. Mike Trout, Manny Machado, Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper don't get to face pitching greats from the past. LeBron James doesn't get a chance to post up Michael Jordan in the NBA Finals. But golf allows its legends to compete forever for the biggest trophies. As Woods reminded the other day, Tom Watson was 59 when he stood one short putt away from winning his sixth Open title.
So Thursday was a day to savor no matter what the scoreboard said. Knox made sure to engage Woods in conversation when it was appropriate, and maybe even when it wasn't. After the round he said it was too much of a blur to recall a damn thing he said.
But the Scot made this perfectly clear: Woods didn't say anything to try to relax him.
"No," Knox said. "He wants to beat me. I'm a threat to him. I could make him not win this tournament. ... He's trying to bury me by 20 shots, as I'm doing with him."
Woods has never been in the business of calming an opponent's frayed nerves. Shot in May, a video resurfaced this week showing Woods telling fans at one of his Tiger Jam charity events that if players were intimidated by him, it was their "f---ing issue."
Knox never had more fun managing his own Tiger issues.
"It's an honor to play The Open Championship," Knox said, "let alone in your own country, at one of the most iconic courses in the world, with your hero. It's a dream come true."
Wearing a cheerful blue vest and black KT tape on the back of his sore neck -- Woods said the neck has been bothering him for a while -- Woods had a blast, too. His body has felt the full effect of his four back surgeries, of 22 years of wear and tear, and yet his competitive spirit remains young.
Woods adores links golf. He talks wistfully of his days as a teenage amateur in Scotland, spending hours on the range trying to hit the 100-meter sign with his line drives and making closer-to-the-hole wagers with his first teacher, his old man, Earl.
"Doesn't get any better than that," Woods said.
Woods brought up those good ol' days again Thursday, but it was Knox who walked away with the memory to last a lifetime. A Scotsman will likely leave Carnoustie without the Claret Jug. After spending more than four hours in the company of greatness, he didn't seem to care.
That's the magic of golf. And that's the everlasting power of Tiger Woods.