Inside the Ropes: Singh intends to stay on PGA Tour past 50
Vijay Singh was never going to fade quietly away to the Champions Tour.
The Big Fijian turns 50 next February and will be eligible for the senior circuit, but after being slowed the last few years by injuries, he's only thinking about extending his already remarkable PGA Tour career.
"I'm playing as good as anybody out here, so if I can keep doing this and if the desire is still there and fire is still there, I'm going to keep playing here," said Singh, who has a record 23 victories after the age of 40.
"I think if I lose the edge over here, I don't know if I'm going to even go and play the Champions Tour. But I feel good about myself, my health, my strength and my golf game. As long as all of them act normally, I think I'll be OK."
Singh's name has popped up on some important leaderboards lately. He tied for ninth in the Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes and tied for seventh in the RBC Canadian Open.
He also was among the leaders in the PGA Championship and the Barclays for two rounds before fading on the weekend.
By tying for 26th last week in the Deutsche Bank Championship, he remained in the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings, climbing 10 spots to 49th, which put him in the field for the BMW Championship this week at Crooked Stick.
Singh was outside the top 70 when he started with a 2-over-par 73 last week at TPC Boston, but he rallied by shooting 69-68-69 in the last three rounds to reach the third round of the playoffs.
That also kept alive his outside chance to win the FedEx Cup, which he did in 2008.
Singh needs a high finish this week in the BMW to climb at least 19 spots into the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings and advance to the Tour Championship, which he won in 2002.
The way he's feeling and with the point jumps that can be made in the playoffs, there's no reason to think he can't do it.
"I feel a lot of confidence in me," said Singh, who claimed the last of his 34 PGA Tour victories at the 2008 Deutsche Bank Championship. "It's just I need to get some kind of momentum to keep me going. I thought I had it at the PGA (Championship), but I kind of let it slip there on Sunday.
"I think I'm playing as good as I did in any part of my career. I'm hitting the ball as long. I'm hitting the ball straighter. ... I'm literally pain-free.
"I just started believing that I can do it (again). I was so negative for a long, long time. I had great sessions on the driving range and just couldn't take it on the golf course. A little tweak to my golf swing during the British Open kind of helped. My head is in a better spot."
Others have taken notice.
Said Phil Mickelson at the PGA: "He's a tremendous ball striker. He hits the ball extremely solid and penetrates right through the air and he's done that his whole career. ... When he gets hot with the putter, he can reel off a number of wins."
Singh did that in 2004, when he claimed nine victories on the PGA Tour, including the last of his three major titles at the PGA Championship, and unseated Tiger Woods atop the World Golf Rankings.
In 2008, with Woods sidelined following knee surgery, Singh captured the FedEx Cup, ending any drama quickly by capturing the first two events of the PGA Tour playoffs, the Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Then countless hours of pounding balls on the range caught up with him.
"It started with my knee in '08, and I had two surgeries on my knee, and then my back kind of started acting up straight after that," said Singh, universally considered the hardest worker in the game.
"That's been a two-year process. I do feel it in the mornings when I get up. I have to be very careful how I jump out of bed. But so far it's been good."
However, old habits die hard. Even though he is more careful with his routine, Singh still gets in plenty of work almost every day.
"I don't hit as many balls anymore because I'm pretty sound with my golf swing, what I need to do," said Singh, who missed the Tour Championship in 2009 and 2010 but was back in Atlanta last year and tied for 16th. "I have a set routine that I go through, and if everything is in place, I just keep going.
"I'm putting a lot more. I think I spend a lot more time on the putting green than I've ever done. ... I should have done this a long time ago. My short game is good. I am working a lot more on my short game than I've ever done.
"I try to get four hours of practice session, yeah. That includes gym, hour and a half, pretty much every other day or every day, if I'm not hurting. ... I'm practicing, yeah. I'm not slowing down."
The man simply does not want to act his age.
COMING UP
PGA TOUR: BMW Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., Thursday through Sunday.
TV: Thursday and Friday, 3-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel; Saturday, 10 a.m.-noon on the Golf Channel, noon-3:30 EDT on NBC and 3:30-6 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel, Sunday, 12-2 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel and 2-6 p.m. EDT on NBC.
LAST YEAR: Justin Rose squandered most of a five-stroke lead on the back nine Sunday but chipped in for birdie on the 17th hole to claim a two-stroke victory over John Senden of Australia on the Dubsdread Course at Cog Hill Golf Club in Lemont, Ill. Rose, who led virtually all the way after opening with an 8-under-par 63, claimed his third PGA Tour victory; earlier in the year, he captured the biggest title of his career at the WGC-Cadillac Championship. The BMW will be played this time at Crooked Stick, where John Daly captured the 1991 PGA Championship.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Pacific Links Hawaii Championship at Kapolei Golf Course in Kapolei, Oahu, Hawaii, Sept. 14-16.
TV: Friday through Sunday, 7:30-10 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel each day.
LAST YEAR: Inaugural event.
LPGA TOUR: Kingsmill Championship at the Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va., Thursday through Sunday.
TV: Thursday and Friday, 12:30-2:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday, noon-3:30 p.m. EDT, and Sunday, 2-5 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel each day.
LAST YEAR: Inaugural event.