Singh closes deal

Practice makes perfect in a season-opening, two-stroke win over Adam Scott

KAPALUA, Maui » Just being mentioned in the same breath as Sam Snead says a lot about Vijay Singh.

Leaders Final Singh -14 Scott -12 Immelman -9 Love -8 Holmes -8 MacKenzie    -8

Close here so many times since the $5.5 million Mercedes-Benz Championship moved to Maui in 1999, Singh finally broke through to the other side yesterday to capture the PGA Tour's season-opening event with a two-shot victory over rising star Adam Scott.

With the win, Singh passed Snead for the most victories after age 40 with 18, became only the second player in history to pocket more than $50 million in career earnings, posted his 30th victory on tour to move him into a tie for 16th all-time and is now one win away of equaling the mark of the most wins by an international player.

It is the sixth consecutive season that Singh has at least one tournament win, second only to Tiger Woods, who has managed a victory 11 years in a row. Singh has won at 22 different venues in his 15 years on tour and at age 43 shows no signs of slowing down.

As is usually the case, Singh didn't show a lot of emotion as he earned a paycheck worth $1.1 million, a new Mercedes-Benz and 4,500 FedExCup points in this new era on tour. But surpassing Snead did give him pause as he reflected briefly on his life as a professional golfer.

"Coming from Fiji, it's not easy to do what I've done," Singh said. "It's a miracle to win one golf tournament coming from Fiji, but to do what I've done and being in the Hall of Fame is a big thing as well. That's never going to go away and that's always there. Those are great things that I remember and I want people to remember that as well.

"I never really thought about Sam Snead's record at all. I never even knew that until somebody just told me at the presentation today. I did want to meet him for a long, long time and we met and had lunch at TPC. I've read his books and I like the way he swung. But for me to pass his record, because after 40, really doesn't mean that much. There's no trophies for doing it, you know what I mean?"

Perhaps not, but it's still a testament to all the hard work Singh puts in. There's a commercial Woods does that shows how early he rises to practice golf, but there's not one about Singh, who can be found on the range long after the sun has dipped below the horizon. Rain or shine, day or night, home or away, Singh smacks golf balls like there's no tomorrow.

Even when he was on the Big Island, supposedly on vacation, Singh couldn't keep away from the range. How do you get to the winners' circle so often? Practice. Practice. Practice.

"I was in Kona for two weeks and I did two workouts, but I was hitting balls 5 hours a day. And to just stand on the practice tee and hit balls, that's about 400 balls a day. And playing golf in the afternoon, I was determined to do it. I had no interference at all in my routine and I was ready."

That may be, but history at the Mercedes hasn't always been kind to Singh. Despite more success than anyone the last nine years here, including two second-place finishes to Stuart Appleby, hoisting the trophy had eluded him time and time again.

With that in mind, he began the day with a three-shot lead over Scott, but quickly built a six-shot advantage, thanks in part to a pair of birdies to start the round. By the fourth hole, that margin was seven and it appeared Singh would win going away.

But as is often the case in golf, big leads can evaporate in a hurry and by the 16th hole that advantage had shrunk to two. Standing on the 17th tee, Scott thought he had an excellent shot to put more pressure on Singh than he could handle.

"I thought I was right in the hunt with two to go, two birdies might be enough," Scott said. "Birdieing 18 is no gimme; I thought I could get in a playoff. I guess I wouldn't expect Vijay to make any school-boy errors coming down the stretch. When you're that far out in front, you're just trying to get it in the clubhouse and hitting smart, sensible shots and he certainly did that."

Scott helped him out by bogeying the 17th after almost making birdie there. He missed a tricky 4-footer coming back for par. At that point, Singh felt good about his chances. Scott birdied the closing hole to pull within two shots, but it wasn't nearly enough. Singh won this event, despite parring the final hole all four rounds.

"I was totally in control of my game," Singh said when asked if he was feeling pressure on the 17th tee. "I was always up by three or four most of the day, so it wasn't pressure at all. It was just a little concern, if he went birdie, birdie then I have to birdie one of the two last holes.

"But I wasn't at any point worried about my position. Nobody was really jumping out there and doing anything. It was the great start that I wanted, birdied the first two and the other guys kind of dropped off a little bit."

PGA Tour rookie of the year Trevor Immelman birdied the closing hole to finish alone in third at 9-under 283, some five shots behind Singh and three removed from Scott. Davis Love III, J.B. Holmes and Will MacKenzie tied for fourth at 8-under 284. Luke Donald finished alone in seventh at 7-under 285.

As for Singh, his next stop is the Sony Open in Hawaii. Will he spend today practicing as usual?

"No, I think I'm going to take a day off," Singh said. "I think I'm going to go get drunk tonight if (his trainer) Joey (Diovisalvi) allows me. I think one glass of wine, I think that's all he'll allow me."

---