Vijay
Singh (born February 22, 1963 in Lautoka, Fiji) is a golfer on the
PGA TOUR who has won three Major tournaments (one Masters in 2000 and two PGA
Championships in 1998 and 2004) and was the leading money winner in 2003. Vijay
grew up in Nadi.
Standing six feet two, Vijay has a wife, Ardena Seth, and
a son, Qass Seth, born on June 16, 1990.
Singh, a resident of Ponte Vedra Beach,
FL, is of Indian Sikh ancestry, the son of an airplane technician who also taught
golf. Growing up, he admired the swing of Tom Weiskopf, using it as an early model
for his own.
Singh began playing professionally in 1982 and won several international
victories, including the Malaysian PGA Championship in 1984, the Nigerian Open
in 1988 and 1989, the Ivory Coast Open, Zimbabwe Open and Volvo Open di Firenze
in 1989, El Bosque Open in 1990 and the King Hassan Trophy in 1991.
In 1993,
Singh won his first PGA TOUR event, the Buick Classic in a playoff over Mark Wiebe.
That victory led to Singh being named the 1993 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year. After
being hampered with back and neck problems in 1994, Singh came back to win the
Buick Classic again in 1995 as well as the Phoenix Open. After playing well in
1996 (but with no victories), Singh won both the Memorial Tournament and the Buick
Open in 1997.
In
1998, Singh was victorious at the PGA Championship at Sahalee in Redmond, Washington,
playing a 70-66-67-68 over the four days (66 tied a course record) and giving
him his first Major title. He followed up his first Major title by winning The
Masters in 2000 with a three-stroke victory over Ernie Els.
In 2001, Singh
was not victorious in any tournaments, but finished the year with a Tour-best
14 top-10 finishes and was fourth on the money list with $3,440,829 on the year.
In 2002, Singh won at the Shell Houston Open at TPC at The Woodlands, setting
a new 72-hole scoring record with a 65, and at the Tour Championship, winning
by two strokes over Charles Howell III.
The year 2003 proved to be Singh's
best ever. He had a personal best four victories, 18 top-10s and was the PGA TOUR's
money leader (and second all-time single-season total) with $7,573,907, beating
Tiger Woods by $900,494. Singh had victories at the Phoenix Open, the Byron Nelson
Championship, the John Deere Classic and the Funai Classic at the Walt Disney
World Resort.
However, the 2003 season was also spotted with controversy surrounding
the year's event at the Colonial. LPGA star Annika Sörenstam became the first
woman to play at a PGA TOUR event since Babe Zaharias at the 1945 Los Angeles
Open. Surrounding this fervor, Singh made the comment that Sörenstam "didn't
belong" on the men's tour and that he wouldn't play if he were paired with
her. He eventually backed down from his comments, but still decided not to play
at the Colonial, withdrawing shortly after his victory at the Byron Nelson Championship.
Continuing
his torrid pace Vijay began 2004 by winning the AT&T Pebble Beach National
Pro-Am at -16 and winning $954,000 in prize money. This was his first win on tour
in 2004 and his 16th all-time on the PGA TOUR. It was his 12th consecutive top-10
finish which is two shy of Jack Nicklaus' all-time record. As of September 2004,
he had won seven events on the tour, a career best.
Singh won the final major
of 2004, winning the PGA Championship, his third major, in a three-hole playoff
over Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco. Singh was the leader by one shot over Leonard
going into the final round, but made no birdies in the final round, finishing
regulation at 67-68-69-76=280. The playoff was a tense affair, and Singh's birdie
on the first playoff hole proved to be the difference.
On September 6, 2004
(Labor Day), Singh won the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston. With the win,
Singh overtook Woods as the number one golfer in the world, ending Tiger's streak
of 264 weeks at the top of the golf world.
[edit]
Tournament Victories
Majors
are listed in bold.
· 1984: Malaysian PGA Championship
·
1988: Nigerian Open
· 1989: Nigerian Open, Ivory Coast Open, Zimbabwe
Open, Volvo Open di Firenze
· 1990: El Bosque Open
· 1991:
King Hassan Trophy
· 1993: Buick Classic
· 1995: Buick Classic,
Phoenix Open
· 1997: Memorial Tournament, Buick Open
· 1998:
PGA Championship
· 2000: The Masters
· 2002: Shell Houston
Open
· 2003: Phoenix Open, Byron Nelson Championship, John Deere Classic,
Funai Classic
· 2004: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Shell
Houston Open, HP Classic of New Orleans, Buick Open, PGA Championship, Deutsche
Bank Championship, Bell Canadian Open, Chrysler Championship