Vijay Singh is hoping a new putting style and attitude will change his fortunes in the Masters Tournament.
Singh, the current PGA Championship winner, has been frustrated almost every time he's teed it up at the Augusta National Golf Club.
In five appearances, he's missed the cut twice and finished tied for 17th, tied for 27th and tied for 39th.
One of the times he missed the cut was last year, when he shot 76-80 -- 156. That was his only blemish in the four major championships, where he finished in the top 25 in the others.
``I'm viewing Augusta differently than I ever have done,'' said Singh, who is from Fiji and now lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. ``I'm going with a little more positive attitude about the golf course. That may help.
``Instead of going out there and not liking the golf course, I'm going to look at it like I'm going to love the golf course. That's my attitude this year. I love it now.''
Asked what he doesn't like about the Augusta National, Singh said ``the greens, but I just don't want to talk about it.''
For the first time, Singh will be putting cross-handed at the Masters. He went to that style of putting at the suggestion of his wife, Ardena. In his first try at it in 1998, Singh finished second in the Western Open.
Less than two months later, Singh won his first major championship -- taking the PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Redmond, Wash. Singh had just 28 putts in the final round and one-putted eight times that day.
``I think it has improved my play,'' Singh said of the cross-handed style. ``I've made more putts and had fewer three-putts. You add them together at the end of the day and it's going to save one or two shots.''
On the PGA Tour, Singh is best known for the long hours he keeps on the practice tee, and his private nature.
As for the practice, Singh says ``I enjoy it. If you don't practice, you're not going to perform as well, no matter what level you're at. I enjoy it and at the same time, it's my work.''
The publicity-shy Singh says the increased recognition that comes with winning a major championship ``has not been a bother to me at all. You're recognized everywhere you go. I guess it's easier to recognize me (he's Fijian of Indian ancestry and stands 6-foot-2) than other guys.''
Singh has even warmed up a little bit to the print media, a group he has kept at arm's length for years.
``I never had any problem with the media; the media always had a problem with me,'' Singh said. ``I think if you write not truthfully a lot of times, when you trust somebody, you give them the honest answers to what they ask, and they go ahead and change things around, it kind of makes you mad. That's what happened, not once, not twice, but three or four times. When you do that, it kind of ... I can play hard ball, too.''
To that end, Singh turned down numerous interview requests over the years and was sometimes short with the ones he did consent to. A case in point happened in the 1998 Masters. Singh came into the tournament having made 53 straight cuts. After he missed the cut, reporters who asked for a comment were told to ``go away, go away.''
Since his PGA win, Singh has been more in demand and has been more cooperative with the media. He gave a good interview before The Tour Championship last fall in Atlanta, though it was before a small audience because of his reputation.
In a short interview in early March at the Doral-Ryder Open in Miami, Singh said, ``If people are paying a lot more attention to you, that means you are playing well. I'd rather have that than nobody paying any attention to you. Having won a major, I'm getting a lot more respect.''
If Singh had his way, though, he'd like to practice, play golf and not be bothered with outside distractions.
``He is a private person,'' said fellow PGA Tour golfer Billy Andrade. ``That's the way he likes to do his business and more power to him. You've got to respect each other's personality.''
Andrade said he has a ``great'' relationship with Singh, ``but it's pretty much all golf. We've never gone out to dinner. If someone wants to tell you about their personal life, they will. I respect that as a player.''
Andrade also respects Singh's game. Singh finished second on the money list in 1998 with more than $2 million and is ranked in the top 10 in the World Golf Ranking.
``If he's not among the top-five players we have, he's pretty darn close,'' Andrade said. ``He's a great shotmaker, a hard worker and a major championship winner now.''
Chip shots: Vijay Singh
Of Indian ancestry, Singh's first name means ``victory'' in Hindi.
Singh changes his tune about Augusta National
