Rocco Mediate chipped in for birdie on the 18th hole to qualify to return to next year's Masters. His wife was ready to go home.

"Linda, we cannot leave until this is over," Mediate told her.

So they stood there. Mediate. Mark Calcavecchia. Phil Mickelson. Earl and Kultida Woods. Augusta National members. Patrons.

They stood there to watch something special. Something that might never be done again.

They stood in utter awe of Tiger Woods -- the only player to ever win all four major golf championships in a row.

"I could hardly breathe watching him," Mediate said. "I couldn't believe what I saw. I had to see it, because we're not going to ever see it again unless he does it. There's no one that's going to do that, I don't care what anybody says. I don't even care what Tiger says. He's the only one that's ever going to do that again.

"There's no one coming up. No one even been born or thought of that's going to produce what this kid produced. I don't care what anybody says. I disagree with all of them."

Calcavecchia was talking to reporters about his fourth-place finish when he broke off the interview to walk back to the 18th green to see Woods finish.

"I wanted to see it happen," said Calcavecchia, who also went out of his way to watch Woods complete his career slam at St. Andrews. "It was pretty cool standing right there and watching him do that. I didn't think he was going to make birdie though. I just figured he'd lag it down there."

The gesture from his fellow competitors didn't go unnoticed.

"It's special when you see other players, but more importantly when you see friends out there following you and rooting you on," Woods said. "That's when you know this sport is a little bit different. Because in most sports that wouldn't be the case."

Woods left his peers reaching for words after his crushing 15-stroke victory in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He left them speechless with his record-setting British Open triumph at the Old Course. He mesmerized them with his grace under pressure in the PGA at Valhalla.

He dazzled them once again Sunday, staving off David Duval and Mickelson on America's most historic golfing grounds.

"Awesome," said former Masters champion Fred Couples. "I think it is amazing. He's one of a kind. He's so good you don't understand him because he's so good."

"Just truly spectacular stuff," Mediate said. "It's probably the greatest feat in sporting history. Who else could touch it?"

"Does Secretariat count?" Brad Faxon asked of Big Red's dominating Triple Crown performance in 1973. "It's Ruthian. Nothing that's been done is as impressive as what he's done in the history of the game. I know that's cliche. But it's true."

Four years ago, when Woods won his first Masters by such an impressive figure that the Grand Slam talk began, did anyone really believe a golfer could win four consecutive majors?

"Hell no!" Mediate said. "He didn't even believe it. There's nobody that could believe it."

Critics will take their shots. They'll say Woods' major sweep is not a pure Grand Slam because it wasn't completed in one season. They'll say that his competition was not as strong as what Jack Nicklaus faced from Tom Watson in their classic British Open duel at Turnberry.

They'll say things to diminish the undiminishable.

"I've heard people say that Tiger doesn't have the players to play against like Jack did when he had [Gary] Player and [Arnold] Palmer and [Tom] Watson. That's such a crock," Faxon said. "Sure, David and Phil haven't won majors yet, but that doesn't make them any less of players. These guys are so much better. There's more good players now, and if Tiger wasn't here you'd see a lot more trophies on the mantles of [Ernie] Els, Duval and Mickelson than there are now."

The next question everyone is asking is whether Woods can keep going. Can he extend his streak of four straight majors and three consecutive PGA Tour wins?

"Why not?" Mediate said. "He's won three straight tournaments. No big deal. The Players. The Masters. Yippee. It's pretty cool what he's done. I'm glad to be a part of it."

"What's going to stop him?" Faxon said. "The amazing thing is his staying power under the gun. The ability to make it look like what you saw was no big deal."

What everybody saw Sunday was a very big deal.