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Vijay's day Stellar 64 too little, too late for Singh
Updated: Sunday June 17, 2001 7:25 PM
TULSA, Okla. (Ticker) -- Vijay Singh may have wanted to win the U.S. Open too badly. Last year's surprise Masters victor knocked himself out of contention early in the second major of 2001 and has little to show for a near-record round Sunday. Singh torched Southern Hills Country Club for a 6-under-par 64 that will do nothing more than leave the Fiji native just shy of the top 10. "Why do I have to have a round like that when I can't win?" he asked. Good question. Singh, who has nearly 30 titles worldwide, was seven shots back after the first round and eight off the pace after 36 holes. He sealed his fate on Saturday with another 74 that dropped him 13 shots behind the leaders. Even at Southern Hills, the three-round total was a bit of a surprise from Singh, the world's fourth-ranked player who was in the top 10 in four of the previous six Opens. Singh also has eight top-six showings on the PGA Tour this season, and he won a pair of European events in consecutive weeks earlier in the year. "I know I am playing much better than what I shot the first three days," he said. "I'll have to go home and analyze my golf and say, 'Hey, I only hit one or two bad shots.' But the golf course will do it to you." Southern Hills made it tough on the field to find fairways, greens and, eventually, holes. Singh never hit more than nine fairways in a round and twice had 30 putts. "You have to be very smart where you put the ball and where you miss it," said Singh, who hit 15 of 18 greens Sunday. "And I was missing some of them in the wrong places." Singh did not miss much Sunday. He had eight birdies, including six on the treacherous back nine that features four of the five most difficult holes on the course. With a birdie at the closing hole, Singh would have had four straight and a share of the best round in Open history. He knew he was close to the record. "Yeah, but I made two bogeys," he said. "If you make bogeys on a golf course like this, you're not going to shoot 63. You needed a bogey-free round. I'm quite happy on what I did. "It was a fun day and I enjoyed it and I took it a little more casually. I had a little more fun out there instead of grinding it." Maybe Singh should have used the same approach over the first three rounds. "I wanted to win this so bad," he explained. "That's probably why I didn't."
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