Singh takes aim at greatest modern-day season
It seems nothing can slow down Vijay Singh right now. Well, no man, at least. It took a hurricane to keep the world's top-ranked player from competing at this week's American Express Championship, a lucrative World Golf Championship event that will count most of the world's best players among its field.
Singh expressed a desire on Monday to remain with his family in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., to cope with the damage left by Hurricane Jeanne.
That's about the only thing that has stopped him lately.
Singh has done just about everything. He won a major championship at the PGA. He's won eight times on the PGA Tour, one short of Tiger Woods' nine in 2000. He's won five of his last six events and three in a row (nobody had won three straight since Woods in 2001). He surpassed Woods' PGA Tour money record set in 2000 and has now banked more than $9.4 million.
Can he become the PGA Tour's first $10 million man?
What about winning 10 tournaments in a season?
Perhaps then Singh's 2004 season will be more impressive than any of Woods' best years.
When Woods won nine times in 2000, he became the first player to win that many since Sam Snead won 11 times in 1950. Ben Hogan won 10 times in 1948 and 13 times in 1946. Byron Nelson holds the record with 18 wins in 1945.
But since 1960, only Woods has won as many as eight times in a season since Johnny Miller did it in 1974. Jack Nicklaus never won that many in a year. Arnold Palmer did it twice, in 1960 and 1962.
"It's ridiculous the way he is playing right now," said Chris DiMarco, who finished T-3 at the 84 Lumber Classic, where Singh won again on Sunday. DiMarco has been an eyewitness to history, also losing to Singh in a playoff at last month's PGA Championship.
The victory was the 23rd of Singh's PGA Tour career, a number that ties him with Phil Mickelson for second among active players under the age of 50. Only Woods, with 40, has more. Remarkably, Singh's run didn't begin until he was 30 years old in 1993, when he was a rookie on the PGA Tour.
At 41, there doesn't seem to be any stopping him. Singh has the deadly combination of length off the tee and ability to hit greens in regulation, where he leads the tour. Although he misses half the fairways, it doesn't matter. Singh still finds a way to get on the green, usually giving himself a putt for birdie.
"It's a run I hope never ends," Singh said. "I'm enjoying it very much and I feel like every time I enter a tournament, I should win it."
This week marks the one-year anniversary of Woods' last stroke-play victory. A year ago, the American Express was played outside of Atlanta, and Woods held off Singh in a final-day duel that seemed to exemplify their plights.
Even earlier this year, when Singh was winning tournaments at Pebble Beach, Houston and New Orleans, he was doing so without Woods in the field. And when Woods returned to the PGA Tour after a layoff, Singh finished behind him, unable to make up ground in the world ranking.
But things have changed. He held off Woods at the Buick Open and again at the Deutsche Bank Championship, where he officially took over the No. 1 ranking. Mixed in was his third major championship at the PGA, then the Canadian Open.
It is the type of run we only thought possible from Woods.
"I think if you polled all the players and said would anybody get to the level that Tiger Woods was at a couple of years ago, probably everybody would have said, 'How can you get better than this?' " said PGA Tour player Billy Andrade. "And now Vijay seems to be on a run like that."
The difference between the two, of course, is that Woods paces himself. He gears up for the big moment. Singh just keeps on playing. He's already competed in 26 PGA Tour events this season, and will return to defend his title later this month at the Funai Classic at Walt Disney World.
Then there will be just two tournaments left, including the Tour Championship. Maybe he'll just keep right on going.
After all, it seems that only Singh can stop himself right now.
Bob Harig covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times and is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at harig@sptimes.com.
