Stan Badz/WireImage Vijay Singh

Here's a prediction: sometime in the year 2023, Vijay Singh will win a golf tournament at age 60. No, not just a golf tournament, but a PGA Tour tournament.

Photo: © Scott Halleran/Getty Images Adam Scott and Vijay Singh

Young Adam Scott was the runner-up in the Mercedes. He's just 26, but he knows all about Vijay Singh. He, like everyone else, was shocked when he first experienced the man on the practice range. If Singh is not in bed asleep, he's out at the golf course.

"You find out pretty quick," said Scott. "Obviously I had heard about it, too, but after seeing him four or five times hitting balls until basically dark on the range, I got the picture."

There were whispers that maybe Singh was finished after he won just one time in 2006, this following a nine-win season in 2004 and four-win campaign in 2005. But Vijay isn't finished - not even close. He looked at the calendar, saw the tummies and postures of some of his fellow 40-year-olds, and what he saw scared him. He did exactly what you would think a scared man would do - this gent who had been the poster boy for exhaustive workouts on tour worked even harder than he did when he was in his 30s.

"It hasn't been easy," Singh said. "You know, once I've turned 40, I've probably picked up my training and my practice even more. Not so much my practice, but my physical training has been a lot more intense.

"Two workouts a week for the last month and a half has been pretty hard. Each day you finish that, you come back home, you feel really, really tired. But when you finish the whole routine, month and a half, you feel really good about yourself."

Photo: © Stan Badz/WireImage Sam Snead

Incidentally, Singh is quite familiar with Sam Snead. He's read Snead's books on the golf swing, and the two once had lunch at Singh's home course at Sawgrass. "He's one of those players that you just love to watch him swing," marveled Vijay, not mentioning that there are many, many in his profession who just love to watch SINGH swing a golf club.

Singh was hanging precariously last year when he was able to pull off but one victory. He was injured in the middle of the season and his swing got a little out of kilter. He had problems throughout the year with his driver, which further compounded his difficulties.

"You know, it's so easy to fall off the top," he said. "Once you're sliding down, you've got to have something to hold onto."

And Singh did have something to cling to - his body. "My physical condition probably kept me there. If I wasn't strong enough, once you mentally get a little frustrated, you can just slide off so quickly."

Photo: © oss Kinnaird/Getty Images No matter what time of day it is Vijay Singh always seems to be practicing.

He works out twice a day, a brisk warm-up in the morning to get all the parts oiled up and functioning, then again in the evening when he lays on the heavy stuff. And, just for good measure, he pounds golf balls every day - some 400 balls for five hours.

All this has produced an athlete who, at nearly 44 years of age, is still at the peak of physical conditioning.

"I think so," he said. "(I've got) a little bit more aches and pains than I had two years ago. I've been going at it very, very hard, and there's a lot more - that's why I've got to be very, very careful in what I do. I cannot overdo myself.

Photo: © oss Kinnaird/Getty Images It was PGA Tour win number 30 for Vijay Singh at Kapalua.

"But I think I'm feeling pretty good. I'm very, very comfortable with not only my body, but my golf swing, and that's more important to me than my body."

Singh says his philosophy of the game is simple, really. "I just want to play well.

"My whole theory about going out there and playing is to play to my ability. I always think if I can do that, you know, everything is going to take care of itself. That's the hardest part is taking my driving range golf swing on to the golf course and feeling as free as that, to be able to do it on the golf course."

That's heady stuff for this man who began life on the island of Fiji. And he rose all the way to the Golf Hall of Fame, winning 30 times on the PGA Tour alone. "That's never going to go away and that's always there," he said. "Those are great things that I remember and I want people to remember that as well."

Life, for Vijay Singh, doesn't stop at 40. "It just begins, I guess," he said.

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