Padraig Harrington has it in his power this weekend to ensure that Europe's record of always having at least one player in the world's top 10 is maintained.
The 31-year-old Dubliner took a two-stroke lead over defending champion Angel Cabrera into the third round of the Benson and Hedges International Open at The Belfry.
The stg£1million event - the 33rd and last to be sponsored by the cigarette company - has already lost many of its big names.
Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sam Torrance all failed to make the halfway cut, as did three of Torrance's Ryder Cup side last September in Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn and Pierre Fulke.
In current world ranking terms, however, 10th-placed Harrington is the biggest European of them all now, and that is how he aims to keep it.
Conqueror of Tiger Woods in California in December, a second-place finish behind Davis Love in March's prestigious Players' Championship underlined his ability to mix it with the best, and since Cabrera is the only player within five strokes of him after 36 holes, the chance to make up for the disappointment of three years ago is staring him in the face.
Five clear with a round to go on the course in 2000, Harrington did not get to play another stroke after the discovery that he had forgotten to sign his first-round scorecard.
Life is about learning from mistakes and moving on, and one of the most meticulous golfers in the game - he studied accountancy before turning professional - has certainly learnt from that day.
"Now I always sign my card twice," he said. "But it seems a lot more than three years ago and if I ever do think about what happened I think of it in a positive way.
"It's not a negative thought and I don't harp back to it. Perhaps there's a little bit of sympathy for me from the crowd here, though."
The truth is that he is popular just about wherever he goes, the only animosity coming at the 1999 Ryder Cup in Boston when every European felt it and where Harrington came in for some criticism too for the time he took to play some shots in his singles match with Mark O'Meara.
Slow play has become an issue in Europe again lately, with Seve Ballesteros being disqualified in Italy last week for refusing to accept a one-stroke penalty and David Dixon, the first-round leader on Thursday, being fined #1,000.
In fact, Dixon was given fines amounting to #1,500 on the day. The extra #500 came in a letter for breaching the tour regulations last week.
Ballesteros' actions and subsequent tirade about the running of the circuit have left him facing the possibility of a disciplinary hearing - it will be discussed by the players' committee in Germany next Wednesday - but as a new boy Dixon merely wants to stay on the right side of the law.
"My girlfriend won't be happy about the fines," said the Bridgwater player, leading amateur at the Open two years ago. "I rushed a bit when I saw a referee hovering again in a buggy, but it's a big learning curve."
After his opening 66, Dixon managed only a 78 yesterday and so resumed this morning nine adrift of Harrington.
Colin Montgomerie was two strokes closer, but could not afford a repeat of his second-round finish when he dropped four shots in four holes.
Up to joint third on four under as a result leapt Surrey's Paul Casey, Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara (joint second with Montgomerie in the Italian Open) and 21-year-old local Jamie Elson.
Having turned professional in March, Elson, from Kenilworth and the son of ex-tour player Pip, is allowed seven sponsors' invitations. This is the third of them and he says: "Hopefully I can keep it going."