ESPN 2007 Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Raise your hand if this is your ultimate Masters scenario come Sunday afternoon: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, playing together in the final pairing, tied for the lead, five shots clear of everyone else as they make the turn towards the back nine.

OK, you can put your hands down now, everyone. And I mean everyone. Honestly, other than those who went to college with Paul Goydos or babysat Hideto Tanihara as a toddler, is there a single golf fan around who isn't rooting for this monumental clash of the titans, isn't already fantasizing about the Dynamic Duo competing head-to-head on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National with a green jacket on the line?

Well, let me be the bearer of bad news: It ain't gonna happen.

Will both Tiger and Phil be in contention this week? Most definitely. (They've combined for 12 top-10s in 14 total starts this decade.) Will one of 'em win the tuna-mint? Good chance. (They've combined for six Masters titles in the past 10 years.)

But recent history shows you've got a better chance of seeing Hootie Johnson flirt with Martha Burk than the world's two most popular golfers teeing it up together on the grandest of stages. In fact, Woods and Mickelson have played in the same major championship 46 times and only once have they been paired on a Sunday afternoon. (As if to only reinforce the point, on that day -- the final round of the 2001 Masters -- the havoc hardly lived up to the hype, as Tiger won by two over David Duval, with Phil one stroke further back.)

It's a tough phenomenon to explain. After all, the two best NFL teams often have squared off in the Super Bowl. The top two Olympians tend to win the gold and silver medals. Even the two prettiest girls will finish 1-2 at the Miss America pageant once in a while.

But Tiger and Phil have never had a major Sunday showdown, that back-nine battle you'll go to sleep Wednesday night dreaming about, wishing it comes to fruition a few days later. Why not? Well, what's needed is a combination of both players being on top of their games at the very same time, with their peers stepping out of the way and letting them play their way through, right up the leaderboard.

Even Tiger agrees.

"It doesn't happen that often, where we're both playing well at the same time, the same week, the same event," Woods said on Tuesday. "It's one of the hard dynamics of the game of golf."

These major championships have developed a sort of pattern after 400 editions (and yes, this week marks the big four-oh-oh). Oh sure, every once in a while throughout history we've had Hagen/Sarazen, Snead/Hogan, Nicklaus/Watson or Faldo/Norman dueling down the stretch, but those times are few and far between -- and there's good reason for it.

Simply put, golf tournaments are some of the least predictable sporting events around. To ask for -- and receive -- a two-horse race between the two best players (and yes, Mickelson is technically ranked No. 4 in the world, but his recent major record is second to only Woods) is golf's version of Powerball, with more luck involved than anything else. Conventional wisdom says some of the other 95 players in this week's field are going to have a hand in the outcome.

Such was the case at last year's Masters, when Mickelson took a lead into the back nine with Woods and a gaggle of others just a few strokes back. But none could make a serious run at the lefty, as even a final-hole bogey didn't blemish a two-shot victory. Tiger finished three off the pace.

"I learned from it quite a bit," said Woods, who shot 2-under 70 that day. "I made a few mistakes out there that cost me the tournament, plus Phil played brilliantly on Sunday and was really tough to catch. But I had some opportunity to make putts on the back nine and I didn't get it done."

While Woods was realistic about this in speaking about why he couldn't catch Mickelson's win during this week's run-up to the tournament, Phil was downright pragmatic when asked whether he feels like he's chasing Tiger's records.

"If I have a great rest of my career, and I go out and win 20 more tournaments and seven more majors to get to 50 wins and 10 majors, which would be an awesome career, I still won't get to where he's at today," said Mickelson, who trails Woods by 27 PGA Tour wins and nine majors. "So I don't try to compare myself against him. What I like to do is to try to win as many tournaments and as many majors that I can, and with him in the field, it just gives it more credibility, whatever it is I am able to accomplish."

You can still ask for it, can still hope, pray, dream it will happen. But the bottom line is this: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will be playing Augusta National this week, not each other. It remains highly unlikely we'll see our wish come true.

They know it, too. Asked about the fans' yearning for a final-round showdown with Woods this week, Mickelson simply played it cool. "You're asking me if I know what you want to see," he said. "I know what I want to see, but it's probably not going to be what you want to see."

And what you want to see, unfortunately, won't be what you see come Sunday afternoon.

Jason Sobel is ESPN.com's golf editor. He can be reached at Jason.Sobel@espn3.com