Golf: Eagle putt seals the day for Singh

ATLANTA - Fijian Vijay Singh shot a five-under 65 yesterday to outshine Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at the elite Tour Championship.

With a nine-under total of 201, Singh, twice a major champion, overtook second-round leader Charles Howell by three strokes at the East Lake Club in Atlanta. Howell hit a 69.

Woods and Mickelson, the No 1 and No 2 players in the world, were a further two shots back along with David Toms, the world No 6.

Singh, at one of his favourite venues, played his first eight holes in even par, then ran off consecutive birdies on the next three holes.

He capped his scoring with a 30m eagle putt on the par-five 15th to lead the field by four shots at that stage.

Singh said the putt was so long he could not make out where his caddie wanted him to hit the ball.

"It was a big right-to-left break," Singh said. "I've had that putt before, and I know about just getting the pace right, to get it over the hill with some pace and let it feed down to the hole. All I was trying to do was to get close, within 3m."

That marked a dramatic change in the round. Toms had been only one shot off the lead, but when Singh eagled and he bogeyed, the margin was suddenly four shots.

The key to Singh's round, however, was his play over the difficult final three holes. In trouble on all three, he made tidy up-and-downs each time.

Woods was only three shots adrift of Singh until he bogeyed 16 and 18 to finish with a 67. He attributed most of his problems to errant play off the tee, hitting only six of 14 fairways.

"I need to step up there and just let it go, let it eat. When I do that, I'm fine," he said.

"But just like anybody, you start feeling a little uneasy over shots or you slow it down, trying to put both hands on the wheel and steer it out there, and when I do that, a lot of times I hit the outside part of the ball."

Singh lost in a playoff to Hal Sutton when the Tour Championship was held at East Lake in 1998, then tied for third behind Mickelson and Woods in 2000.

Yet he was at a loss to explain why he plays so well at East Lake, the course where Bobby Jones honed his game as a youngster.

"Everybody has asked me that. I just think it suits my eye. Whenever I come here, I play well," he said.

* Ten of the 30 players in the Tour Championship said Augusta National should offer membership to a woman, although no one who responded to a newspaper survey said he would boycott the Masters if the golf club remained all-male in April.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper polled the field, where all 30 players have qualified for the Masters.

Eight players declined to take part in the survey - Robert Allenby, Chris DiMarco, Bob Estes, Davis Love, Scott McCarron, Mickelson, Kenny Perry and Toms.

Toms said last week that he would play no matter what the status was at Augusta, which has come under attack by the National Council of Women's Organisations for not having a female member.

"I want to win that tournament as bad as any tournament in the whole world," Toms said.

On the question of female membership, five players said the decision was up to the club, while Len Mattiace was the only one who said no. Fourteen players declined comment on that question.

Players were divided when asked whether golfers have an obligation to speak out on the issue.

Of the 14 who responded, five of them - including Woods - said yes.

Jeff Sluman was among those who said no. "Our opinion doesn't in a lot of respects matter as much as general laypeople," he said.


- AGENCIES