Singh's 4th place at Honda sends warning March 08, 2010
Six years ago Vijay Singh was the No. 1 player in the world. That does something to a man,makes him dangerous, for one thing, even when his ultra-long belly putter is acting more like a crutch.
Makes him a believer, too, in the tried-and-true tempo of victory, which in Singh's case is the same slow and easy lope of those stately sandhill cranes that casually mill around the edges of the Honda Classic.
Singh, 47, was on the edge of winning this tournament, as a matter of fact.
He felt it when a 46-foot birdie putt dropped on No. 5 Sunday, reeling eventual winner Camilo Villegas within two strokes with the bulk of a blustery Sunday to play.
"Age doesn't really matter," Vijay said later, not letting a final-round 72 and a tie for fourth place take the wind out of his sails. "I hit it as far as they do and probably hit it as good as they do, or even better. I just have to go out there and play and show them one or two tricks now and then."
That's a great deal more sass than we used to get out of Singh, even at the peak of his career. A great many more syllables, too.
After missing a 3-foot putt to lose a playoff to Padraig Harrington at the 2005 Honda, Vijay barely broke stride on his way off the back of the green and into the Mirasol clubhouse.
What brief quotes he gave that evening were to a handful of reporters hustling to stay up. The three-time major winner, two PGA's and the 2000 Masters, didn't bother coming by the interview room to discuss his runner-up finish.
These days Singh is smiling a lot more and finding the positives in every close call. After a 2009 season that included two surgeries on his right knee and awkward adjustments in his game that had him "swinging so badly it was a joke," finishing seven strokes behind the winner doesn't feel so distant.
Feels just fine, as a matter of fact, for this Honda marks Singh's best finish in an official Tour event since ripping off back-to-back victories at The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship at the end of 2008.
"I think I will do really well next week," Singh said of the CA Championship at Doral, an elite-field World Golf Championships event. "I have a good feeling about it.
"Really, that's a good step toward next week, and Bay Hill and then coming into the Masters. I think it's a great tune-up. I'm a little disappointed because I could have made a run for it. Maybe it just needs a little more time."
Better listen, if we're smart.
The Fijian's first name means "victory" in Hindi, and he's got 34 of them on the PGA Tour. That's a huge number, more than any active regular-Tour player but Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
For comparison's sake, Lee Trevino won 29 PGA Tour titles during his career and the ageless Gary Player won 24. Vijay's already put them away, and this Honda showed he's not close to stopping, or even detouring to the Champions Tour when that 50th birthday comes in 2013.
Why should he? Not everybody out here knows how to win the way he does.
Take this final round at PGA National. Take Vijay out of the equation and there were 13 players within eight shots of the lead heading to the first tee on Sunday. Those 13 men now have 10 PGA Tour victories between them, with Villegas' Honda title included.
"He's got a lot of game," Singh said of Villegas' breakout potential in the majors and other big events. "We'll have to wait and see."
Hear that? Singh really did think he had a shot here, starting the round just three shots back and making the turn in two-under 34. The Bear Trap is where it really fell apart, with Vijay's tee shot on No. 15 bouncing into the lake right of the green. That was the first of three straight bogeys, including a brutal 3-foot miss for par on No. 16 when the ball never touched the cup.
Maybe he felt a 65-foot birdie putt that fell for him on Friday balances that one out, for Vijay said at the end of the tournament "That's the best I've felt on the putting green for a long, long time."
Never thought I'd find myself pulling so hard for a guy with such a sullen reputation from earlier in his career, but this doesn't even seem like the same Vijay.
He's somebody new, which is fairly shocking for somebody so old. If Singh wins again out here, he'll be past the age that Jack Nicklaus was on the occasion of that magical 1986 Masters victory.
Wouldn't put it past him, not with a driving-distance average of 282.9 yards, seventh-best in this Honda field. All he's got to do now is hit a few more fairways and greens.
Sounds simple enough. Vijay used to make it look that way, too.
This Honda said it really could happen again, and often.
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