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Life on the PGA tour is full of peaks and valleys. Remember in 2004 when Vijay Singh won the Deutsche Bank Championship in his duel with Tiger Woods. The victory brought him to the pinnacle, becoming the number one player in the world. He went on to win nine times that year and in 2005 he looked again like a world beater, winning three tournaments in the first five months.
Unfortunley for Singh, things got tough after his win at the Buick Open in 2005. Tiger Woods reclaimed the number one spot and for Singh his game tailed off. In 2006, Singh's game unraveled, as his driving distance went drastically down fron 16th to 65th in 2006, greens hit went from 4th to 31st in 2006 and his scoring average went from 69.04 which ranked 2nd to 69.62 which ranked 8th. That half a stroke a round meant the difference from him making $8 million in 2005 down to $4.6 million in 2006.
Singh knew his game wasn't up to his standards. He knew after the Tour Championship that he had to change things around to get back up to the pinnacle that he saw after the Deutsche Bank two years previously.
So for two weeks before the Mercedes-Benz Championship, Singh spent the time Kona on the island of Hawaii, hitting balls for five hours and then playing golf. He also spent hours working on his body to fine tune it the way it was in 2004. As he said after he won the Mercedes, "I was determined to do it. I had no interference at all in my routine and I was ready."
| Vijay Singh's finishes at the Mercedes when held at Kapalua | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Place | Score | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | WIn | 69-69-70-70=278 / 14 under | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | 2nd | 70-74-74-66=284 / 8 under | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | T5th | 66-65-69-74=274 / 18 under | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | 2nd | 68-64-69-70=271 / 21 under | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | T4th | 68-70-67-65=270 / 22 under | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | T3rd | 71-67-67-71=276 / 16 under | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | T8th | 73-77-67-72=289 / 3 under | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | 4th | 70-65-70-71=276 / 16 under | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Just like that Vijay Singh became the same player that he was in 2004. But it took one last change to make it all happen and that happened in December at the Father/Son. Singh switched back to the belly putter, which just happened to be the way he putted in 2004.
With all of that Singh dominated the week at the Mercedes Championship. He started out on Thursday with birdies at the 1st then the 2nd hole and basically didn't look back. He shot rounds of 69-69-70-70 to run away with the event, winning it wire-to-wire. Yes at the end of the day on Sunday it was only a two shot victory but things pretty much got determined with birdies at 1 and 2 again. Adam Scott made it interesting at the end with a charge but Singh had built up too big of a lead to lose.
With the win Singh finally got the monkey off his back of winning the Mercedes-Benz Championship, an event that before this year he was always in contention but could never win.
With it Singh got off to a great start in the season of change. With the FedEx Cup he goes onto of the standings early as the leader and in a way sends a message to Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour that he will be a force to reckon with in 2007.
Keys to victory for Singh
Averaged 1.764 in putting per GIR which was 2nd best in the field, in number of putts only took 116 which which also tied for 2nd. This seems to be the keys for victory at Kapalua. Of the nine champions, six have led that stat, two have finished 2nd and one Tiger Woods in 2000 finished 4th. For Singh putting has always been his Achilles heel, when he has putted well he has always finished high up. Here are some other keys for him:
- Was 61 of 63 in putts from six feet and less.
- For the week only had three, 3-putts which is a remarkable stat with the size of the greens. Of the players in the field he was T3rd in three-putt avoidance. To make up for this Singh had 31 one-putt, the best of anyone in the field.
- An important element in Singh's week was scrambling, he missed 17 greens but was able to get it up and down 15 times, his 88.4% average was best of anyone in the field.
- Played his last 29 holes bogey free and in seven under par.
- Played the par 3s the best of anyone in the field, was 3 under on them.
Durant's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 43 of 60 ..... (T25th) Driving average: 258.9 ..... (14th) Greens hit: 55 of 72 ....... (T16th) Putts: 116 (29.00 a rd) .... (2nd) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 0 1-putt greens: 31 2-putt greens: 38 3-putt greens: 3 Play on par 3s: -3 Play on par 4s: -4 Play on par 5s: -7 Eagles: 1 Birdies: 17 ................ (T7th) Scrambling: 15 of 17 (88.24%) (1st)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What This Win Means
- Other than Stuart Appleby who has three wins at Kapalua, Singh could be the second most prolific player at Kapalua. He has played in eight of the nine Mercedes played at Kapalua and in those starts his highest finish is T8th in 2000. With the victory he has now finished in the top-three, four times.
- With four rounds under-par this week, Vijay Singh has posted 27 of his 32 rounds under-par at the Mercedes-Benz Championship since the event moved to Kapalua in 1999 and he carries a scoring average at the Plantation Course of 69.31.
- Of course the focus in the media will be on Singh's 18 wins since turning 40, surpassing Sam Snead's 17 for the most wins by a player over the age of 40. The key for Singh is that he is probably one of the healthiest 43 year-olds out there. How much will Singh be able to add to this record in the next couple of years will determine if he can have a record that even Tiger Woods can't beat once he turns 40.
- This was Vijay's 30th career win and his first win at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, it gives him wins at 22 different PGA TOUR stops in his 15-year career. As a comparison, Tiger Woods has won 54 times but at 23 different PGA Tour stops.
- This was Vijay's 30th career PGA Tour win with places him T16th in the all-time win list with Leo Diegel. But on Singh's next victory he will tie Harry Cooper at 31 as the international player with the most victories. Talking of victories it was his first win at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, it gives him wins at 22 different PGA Tour stops in his 15-year career. As a comparison, Tiger Woods has won 54 times but at 23 different PGA Tour stops.
- Becomes third player to win both Hawaii tournaments in a career. Jim Furyk captured the Honolulu tournament in 1996 and the 2001 Mercedes Championships in Maui, while Ernie Els won both in 2003. I would say that with this victory, Singh is the odds on favorite at the Sony Open.
