It is fairly clear now that when Vijay Singh gets the putter rolling, he is nearly unbeatable. That might have been a little foggy earlier in the season, but after Monday's 8-under 63 at the Deutsche Bank Championship, it is obvious confidence with the flat stick means trophys for the Fijian.
Singh carded his third win in his last five starts and his second straight of the playoffs after trailing Mike Weir and Camilo Villegas heading into the Monday finish. 23 putts in your final 18 holes sure does make that five-shot win more of a reality.
Singh rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt on the 13th hole to stretch his lead to three shots, then raised the belly putter like a trophy when he holed a 60-foot birdie putt on the next hole. He capped off his amazing run with a 35-foot birdie on the 17th hole.This win pretty much puts the FedEx Cup out of reach for anyone except maybe Sergio Garcia, who played with Vijay for the second straight week and finished in a t-5, his second straight top-5. Garcia trails Singh by 12,225 points which means even if Vijay lays an egg and finishes dead last at this week's BMW Championship, he will still be at the top of points heading into the Tour Championship. After the tidy 63, Sergio did he best to compliment Vijay while taking little mini jabs at some of his best friends, the media.
"It's nice to see them going in," Singh said. "When they start going in, (the doubters) believe it."
"He played amazing. It was awesome," said Garcia. "I don't think you guys are going to realize how good that was, because you're aren't playing and you don't know how tough the course was playing. When Vijay plays like that, it's hard to beat him.
"It's like when Tiger plays well," he said. "You want to beat him, but it's good to watch. You're watching history."
All the credit in the world to Vijay, but it must be nice to have these playoffs as the only thing on your mind. A member of the President's Cup International Team, Singh obviously isn't concerned about the upcoming Ryder Cup and all the pressure that is associated with it. He can focus on the FedEx Cup and then vacation.
Nonetheless, at 45-years-young his new approach to putting has turned a pretty disappointing year into one of his best ever.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-03-2008 @ 1:35PM
Peter Jeffrey said...
I wonder how big a deal the press would have made, if the person shooting the 63 on Monday and blitzing the rest of the world-class field was named Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson?
Reply
9-10-2008 @ 7:09PM
frankosport2003 said...
Greetings ...
All Vijay has to do to clinch the cup is officially complete all 72 holes of the Tour Championship. If Singh were to withdraw or be disqualified, then either Sergio Garcia or Camilo Villegas would have a chance at the Cup, both one of them would have to win the Tour Championship.
The Tour Championship's actual available point values are 12500 for 1st, 8500 for 2nd, 6000 for 3rd, 5000 for 4th, 4500 for 5th, and so on down to 2000 for 30th place.
If you change the distribution of Tour Championship point values as follows --- 18000 for 1st, 10800 for 2nd, 6900 for 3rd, 4800 for 4th, 4000 for 5th, and so on down to 1600 for 30th, then the first nine players on the current Fed Ex Cup points list (Singh, Villegas, Garcia, Furyk, Weir, Kim, Leonard, Choi and Mickelson) would have a chance at the Fed Ex Cup.
It should be noted that the suggested change of point values is line with the Tour Championship's current actual monetary distribution formula, while the point values currently in place follow no set formula.
Thanx-A-Lot, FrankoSport
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9-10-2008 @ 7:22PM
frankosport2003 said...
Correcting Myself
Either Sergio Garcia or Camilo Villegas would have a chance at the Cup, but one of them would have to win the Tour Championship.
Humble Thanx From Frank-0-Sport