Blustery conditions at PGA Championship fail to deter Vijay Singh
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Vijay Singh wasn't playing the same course as everyone else in the PGA Championship field on Friday.
Sure, there was footage of him on the grounds at the Ocean Course, but the way Singh handled winds that were gusting upwards of 20 mph, and sometimes 30, you could have sworn he was playing a local muni track in Bamberg, South Carolina.
Singh, who turns 50 next February and will be eligible for the Champions Tour, apparently never received the memo that you're supposed to let off the gas pedal as you make the transition from full-time PGA Tour grinder to Champions Tour regular.
Less than a month after he finished T-9 at the British Open -- his first top-10 in a major since a T-6 at the U.S. Open -- Singh is at it again at the Ocean Course, looking like a guy who has nothing to lose, after he carded an impressive 3-under 69 -- a score that was almost nine shots better than the field average during the morning wave -- that had the entire course talking on Friday afternoon.
With scores soaring as the wind picked up, Singh went about his business hitting 8 fairways, 11 greens and posting five birdies during his round. Just a couple shots off the lead after 36 holes, there's a good chance his score not only could hold up as the best of the day, it could leave Singh in a great spot to play in one of the final groups on the weekend -- a position the three-time major winner is very familiar with.
"You know, I've been playing well for a while," Singh said. "I've just been telling myself I'm swinging the club really well, but nothing is going. All of a sudden it clicked, and it clicked at the British, played well at the Greenbrier, didn't finish it off."
It sounds crazy, but the way Singh's playing right now, you have to like his chances over the weekend, even though it's been a while since he's been in serious contention over the final two days at a major championship.
With two top-10 finishes in his last two starts, Singh has clearly found a fountain of youth late in his career. Like Kenny Perry at the 2009 Masters, he has a chance to do the impossible and win a major when everyone else was likely writing off his chances before he ever teed it up on Thursday.
Whatever happens, Singh's going for history this weekend. There's still a lot of golf to be played, but if he could somehow find a way to win the third Wanamaker Trophy of his career, he'd become the oldest major champion at the age of 49, passing Julius Boros, who was 48 when he won 1968 PGA Championship.
Storylines abound at the Ocean Course, but there's no question one of the biggest heading into the third round will revolve around a 49-year-old former major winner who's clearly found something over the last few weeks.
