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Grand showing Singh grabs Grand Slam lead, while Woods struggles
Updated: Friday December 29, 2000 2:28 PM
POIPU BEACH, Hawaii (CNNSI.com) -- Tiger Woods makes four bogeys in a round about as often as Loren Roberts four-putts a green. But there Woods was Tuesday, riding a roller coaster around windy Poipu Bay Golf Course while carding a pedestrian 1-under 71 at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. That left him two shots behind leader Vijay Singh, whose suddenly hot putter carried the reigning Masters champ to a 3-under 69. Alternates Paul Azinger and Tom Lehman each struggled, Lehman carding a 73, Azinger a 74. By his own admission, Singh hasn't been playing well since he won the Masters in April. But going into Wednesday's final round of the 36-hole PGA Grand Slam of Golf, Singh feels his game is coming around. "Yeah, it was kind of disappointing after the Masters," Singh said. "That was the high point of my year. Then, things kind of slowed down. I didn't play the way I felt I would. I just couldn't score." It's different now, however, and Singh hopes a Grand Slam victory will serve as a springboard into 2001. "And now, toward the end of the year, I feel where I'm able to score again and I'm putting well again. I'm looking forward to next year. I'm playing well, and, you know, I'm gearing up for next year. Hopefully, it's going to be better than this year." But standing in his way in the $1 million event is the man who has cornered almost every golfing award this year.
Woods, meanwhile, hopes a good night's sleep will propel him to his third consecutive Grand Slam title. "Dinner and a lot of sleep" was what Woods said he had planned after an adventurous day. Woods, who won the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand on Sunday, arrived at the Poipu Bay Golf Course a little more than two hours before his tee time. After checking in and having a quick workout at the spa, he marched to the driving range for a few warm-up swings before heading for the first tee with caddie Steve Williams. "Tuesday was a very long day," the two-time Grand Slam defending champion said. "It started out Tuesday when we left [Thailand] and got to relive it all over again here." He added, "We teed off at 2 in the morning Thailand time. So, your body is not really used to teeing it up at 2 in the morning and being wide awake and ready to go." "That was the most difficult thing. I was telling Stevie going down No. 1, 'I can't tell if the ball was moving or if I was moving on the tee.' I'm saying, 'The ball is teed up, it can't be the ball.'" Woods made the turn in 2 over, but picked up the tempo with three birdies on the back nine. "I just tried to kind of get the ball in play as best I possibly could and grind it out somewhere near par," he said. "I knew that would be a good score and I was able to get it under par, which is a bonus. That's about it." Singh birdied the first and third holes, but dropped a stroke with a bogey on the 374-yard eighth hole. He added birdies on Nos. 13 and 18 to open the two-stroke margin. "It was one of the most tough-scoring rounds of golf I've played," Singh said. "I didn't hit the ball good at all off the tee, but I managed to make both 6- and 8-footers that counted." Lehman birdied the 10th hole, but triple-bogeyed the par-3 11th. Azinger had a double-bogey on the par-5 14th. The winner will receive $400,000 from the $1 million purse.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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