IT was former world No1 David Duval who put it best recently.
A lot of these young guys say they wish they could have gone up against Tiger Woods in his prime, he said.
Then a dramatic pause and, in the manner of Clint Eastwood, he added: the HELL they do...
According to Woods himself many of his young Ryder Cup team-mates, including Major winners like Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka, have been saying the same to his face.
The young bucks have been joking about it with the old master. Pretty much patting him on the head and patronising him.
Not anymore, though. Not after Sunday afternoon in Atlanta, when Woods won his first title in five years at The Tour Championship.
Ryder Cup: Preview, Tee-times, TV channel and live streamNow they are having to live up to the inescapable fact that Woods is back - and potentially as good as any of them.
Back in his pomp, Ryder Cup week used to be the one time every two years when Woods was made to look mortal.
He has been on the winning side just once in seven attempts and that was way back in 1999 at the Battle of Brookline.
The suspicion always was that Woods did not care much about this thing. That he wasnt a team man. That he couldnt care less for an event which didnt offer him personal enrichment.
But it didnt sound that way when he rocked up at Le Golf National outside Paris yesterday for his first Ryder Cup appearance in six years.
When he spoke about the nerves and excitement of his debut in 1997, the 42-year-old sounded like a wide-eyed rookie once more.
Woods also sounded as though he was enjoying the crack with those young team-mates who, until recently, assumed he was physically and mentally spent.
A lot of the younger guys were on their way in as I was on my way out, he said.
They had never really played against me when I was playing well - it had been five years since I won a golf tournament and a lot of the players were just coming on to the scene, whether its J.T, Jordan, now Bryson (DeChambeau), Brooksy was just getting started.
So a lot of them had just not played against me.
Tiger Woods adoringly embraced by girlfriend Erica Herman after winning Tour Championship -I think that when my game is there, Ive always been a tough person to beat.
But they have jokingly been saying we want to play against you.
So alright. Here you go. We had a run at it and it was a blast.
I had to beat Rory McIlroy in the final group on Sunday and Justin Rose was tied with Rory.
I had a three-shot cush, which was awfully nice, but still I had not done it in five years.
Those guys (Rose and McIlroy) had both ascended to No 1 in the world, they have won Major championships, they have won all around the world, and I had not really played a whole lot of golf the last few years.
The likes of Samuel L Jackson, John McEnroe and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were playing in a celebrity match here yesterday - but no one can match Woods for star quality right now.
Woods spoke yesterday with a relaxed and open rarely apparent in his peak years.
And he was candid about his frustration with his Ryder Cup record - although this American dream team, with its record-low average world ranking of just 11.2, are favourites to win in Europe for the first time in a quarter of a century.
Woods said: Looking back on my entire Ryder Cup career, thats not something Ive really enjoyed or liked seeing.
Of those seven previous Ryder Cups, Ive sat out only one session at Medinah. Otherwise Ive played every single match.
We havent done well. The year we won in 2008, I had knee reconstruction surgery and I didnt play. I was vice-captain in 2016 but its different being a player.
But overall Ryder Cup record, not having won as a player since 1999, is something that hopefully we can change.
We havent won as a U.S team here in 25 years on foreign soil, hopefully that will change this week as well.
Tiger Woods in shock saying he cant believe I pulled this off after winning Tour ChampionshipWoods also spoke of the unmistakable atmosphere at the first tee of a Ryder Cup, of his belief that the crowd will be even louder here than they had been in Atlanta.
And when he spoke about being so nervous that he did not want to hit the first tee shot on his maiden appearance alongside Mark OMeara in 1997, there was no doubting his appetite for this event.
He said: My first Ryder Cup, Mark was the vet, so he says the way the golf course sets up, you should tee off on the odds (odd-numbered holes). And I said well I kind of like the evens.
He said why do you want evens? Because youd have to hit the first tee shot?
Hes the vet so I listened. I hit a two-iron, tracked it down the fairway and, phew, it was all good.
There was a thrill in his voice as he recalled that shot but he didnt sound wistful.
He sounded for all the world like a middle-aged man who has magically rediscovered his youth.
Excited fans enter the Golf course to follow Tiger Woods to the final hole as he wins Tour Championship - his first tournament win since 2013