VIJAY SINGH NOW RANKED:
WORLDS NUMBER SEVEN GOLFER
Wins Major US tournament.
Vijay Singh moved up two positions to seventh in the world rankings
after his victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational Golf Tournament
last week. The 44-year-old Indo- Fijian claimed the 31st PGA Tour
title of his career and his second win of the season when he finished
two strokes clear of nearest rival American Rocco Mediate in Florida
on Sunday March 18.
After faltering start and a couple of close calls Vijay won his
31st PGA Tour title by two shots . One of four players tied for
the lead early on the front nine, Singh surged ahead with four
birdies in five holes from the fifth and could afford to bogey
16 and 17 before clinching the win. Nearst rival Rocco Mediate,
who scored an eagle at the par-five sixth, managed a strong secured
second place with a 67, one stroke ahead of fellow-American Vaughn
Taylor, the overnight leader, who closed with a 73.
Four-times champion Tiger Woods, boosted by a birdie-birdie start,
got to within two strokes of the lead before tumbling backwards
over the closing stretch on the way to a 76 and a tie for 22nd
at three over.
A relieved and disbelieving Singh told reporters said it was
a tough game and hard work with such strong competition. Singh
earned the winner's purse of $990,000 and said " It feels
great now to win the Arnold Palmer with such a great field, I
think it could have been an even tighter finish"
Singh had made shaky progress when he bogeyed the par-four third
after being bunkered off the tee and also with his second shot.
However, with a spurt of concentration and a methodical approach
he rallied with birdies at the fifth and sixth before moving up
with an excellent approach to five feet at the par-four eighth.
Three strokes clear with nine holes to play, he made fumbled
with a three -putt bogey, this was compounded by a bad par-five
12th after pulling his second shot into trees, but recovered well
with a hole down the birdie putt from 20 feet. Finding his feet
Singh drove a superb dogleg right at the par-four 15th next a
measured approach behind the pin spun back off the slop to within
two feet of the flag. Still under pressure from Mediate, Singh
kept his composure and tapped in for his sixth birdie of the day
to get to 10-under and stretch his lead to four strokes and thus
winning the tournament.
Vijay Singh was ranked number one in the Official World Golf
Rankings for 32 weeks in 2004 and 2005, A Fijian of Indian ancestry,
he was born in the town of Lautoka, Fiji Islands and was taught
golf by his father an airplane mechanic. After becoming something
of a child prodigy Singh became a proffessional golfer in 1982
. In 1984, Singh won the Malaysian PGA Championship. Italy and
finished 24th on the European Tour Order of Merit, putting his
early stuggles firmly behind him. He won on the European Tour
again in 1990 and did so twice in 1992. He also won several tournaments
in Asia and Africa in this period and became a ranked world class
player winning tournamante consistently through the 1990's'. Currently,
Vijay is the only double winner in 2007 PGA Tour having won the
season opener Mercedez Benz Championship and as well as the Arnold
Palmer Golf Championship. Singh lost his world number 1 ranking
to Tiger Woods , but just two weeks later he took it back again
after notching up top three finishes in three consecutive weeks.
Followings Woods' win at the 2005 Masters, Singh once again lost
his place as World No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings and
finished tied for fifth place. Despite this Singh became the youngest
living person elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame and remains
one of Golfs biggest purse earners.