New year, same old Singh
The last time I saw Vijay Singh in 2006, he was walking away from the scoring trailer at East Lake, not a happy man. He played with Jim Furyk that day, and through the glass you could see him throw something against the wall, startling his playing partner, who, knowing the source, just kind of shrugged it off. It had been a long year. Furyk had become the No. 2 player in the world. Singh was once No. 1, but was spiraling down in the standings.
Knowing Singh wouldn't stop to talk, the tour's press director tried anyway. It was not a ridiculous request. ESPN was televising the tournament and Singh was still in the tournament, but again, it had been a long year. Fuses were short, nerves frayed, and Singh is not a good interview on a bad day. He finished bogey-bogey, took 32 putts for the second straight round, and finally had enough.
Walking past the clubhouse, Singh snapped his putter and, with a noise of steel against steel, left the pieces lying in the grass. He would shoot 65 the next day, but in a fitting end to a bad karma year, would finish bogey-bogey on Sunday for a 72, dropping from second to eighth, 9 shots back of Adam Scott.
So here he was, about to turn 44, already inducted into the Hall of Fame, beaten now by this new generation of stronger kids, trying to figure it out. What the Fijian came up with in the offseason was what that broken putter represented at East Lake.
Singh broke out the belly. Why he didn't do this in 2006 is, in part, why Singh is great. He's stubborn as an elephant. Jack Nicklaus was stubborn. Tiger Woods is stubborn. Phil Mickelson is stubborn. (In part, it's why they both didn't debut last week.) It's got to be on their terms. So when nobody was looking, Singh switched it up for the Father-Son. He'd been practicing putting with the crutch anyway. He'd rolled the tables with a belly putter before, but won seven of his last nine in 2004, including the PGA Championship, with a conventional-length blade. He just didn't like to give in to it; it was a sign of weakness. The guy's got more Hogan in him than anybody since Hogan, speaking of stubbornness.
So he reverted to this temporary form of putting at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and in no coincidence at all, he finished second in the putting stats and won the tournament by 2 over Scott, leaving the new Brat Pack of Trevor Immelman, Will MacKenzie and J.B. Holmes in his wake. Woods wasn't in the field and neither was Mickelson, but in the end, who cared?
Singh was back with his 30th career victory, surpassing the number of wins Sam Snead had in his 40s with his 18th and seven years of quality golf still left on the biological clock before turning 50. He was asked afterward if he wished he made the change earlier, and typical of a great player, he still wasn't giving in. "It was just like winning with a regular putter," he said.
Thirty was a milestone that at times over the past two years has seemed like an object in the distance. After nine wins in 2004 and backing that up with four wins in 2005, Singh went 1-for-27 in 2006, his win coming at Westchester, the losses piling up with some loose and uninspired final rounds.
Down to No. 7 in the rankings, he prepared for the season opener with two-a-day workouts, 400 balls a day, and a round of golf, on the island of Kona. Nick Faldo said his swing was more on plane than he'd ever seen it. When Scott nudged within 2 strokes on Sunday, Singh never flinched, saying afterward he was in total control of his game.
"This was an important one," he said. "You know, all wins are important. [But] this gives me a lot more freedom from here on. I don't have to force myself. Sometimes when you don't win for a while, in the back of your head … you have some kind of pressure, and this kind of eases all the pressure. It's a good win. I wanted this win, and I practiced hard for it. It's a good offseason for me. I worked hard and it paid off."
The hard work did pay off, but so did the change -- if for nothing else than to change the look, and his luck. He'll go back and forth again and again, from belly to conventional, just as he'll win again and again. He'll outwork them until it's time to quit.
I asked Singh if he's got a number in his head, like 40 or 50. I got a smile.
"Sixty would be even better," he said. "I just want to play well and win. You know, there's no real number out there. But, you know, always when you get to nine, or 19 like Davis [Love III] is now, it's hard to make that 20. I remember when I was at nine, I wanted to get to 10 so bad. You put pressure on yourself by doing that. Now it's 30. I'm just going to play and enjoy it and see how many wins I can get before I finish."
So it may not have mattered if Tiger and Phil were in the field, and in the end, Tim Finchem had all that he wanted: a high-profile Singh victory, a way to pump a FedEx Cup "race," and some motivation for Woods -- as if he needed any more, after two straight majors and another Tiger Slam in his sights. All of a sudden, the year just got interesting.
Vijay plays again this week at The Sony. Phil's coming out next week for The Hope. Tiger makes his debut after that in San Diego. And all is well in Camp Ponte Vedra when the commissioner can go on TV and say, "Somebody had to lead the FedEx Cup. It's just not going to be the No. 1 and No. 4 players from last year."
That would be Vijay Singh. He's a little older, a lot looser, swinging better than ever, just as focused, and finally making some putts. He doesn't care if it's FedEx Cup points or money. He's just out to win. And he doesn't care if Tiger and Phil are no-shows. You win, you win, and he's on the road to No. 40.
Tim Rosaforte is a senior writer for Golf World magazine.
