One of my favorite Seinfeld stand-up routines involves his discussion of the silver medal.

"Congratulations, you almost won," Seinfeld says. "Of all the losers, you came in first of that group. You're the number one loser. No one lost ahead of you."

When it comes to ranking the best golfers of the era behind Tiger Woods, though, second place is nothing to sneeze at. One of my favorite 19th hole discussions is trying to figure out who is golf's silver medalist. Is it Vijay Singh or Phil Mickelson?

With his victory Monday at the Deutsche Bank, including a final-round 63, Singh now has 34 PGA Tour victories, including three majors. With his two wins this season, Mickelson also has 34 wins, including three majors.

What gives Singh the upper hand -- at least at present -- is that he has been Player of the Year (something Mickelson has not) and been ranked No. 1 in the world (also something Mickelson has not).

There are other points in Singh's favor, too: twenty-two wins after the age of 40, which is a PGA Tour record. The most PGA Tour wins by an international player. All of that and he's close to clinching the second edition of the FedEx Cup playoffs (won by Woods last season).

At 38, Mickelson has plenty of time to take the silver medal away from the 45-year-old Singh, but for now it is property of the hulking Fijian.

You know, the guy who no one lost ahead of.