Musings: Singh pulls playoff double in Boston

The PGA Tour anticipated a wide-open FedExCup playoff chase after tweaking the system to bring more players into the championship equation. They probably didn’t anticipate that one player would dominate the proceedings, especially with Tiger Woods off rehabbing his knee (or lounging on his yacht).

For a guy who supposedly can’t putt, Vijay Singh put on a flat stick exhibition in winning the Deutsche Bank in dominating fashion and putting himself in great position to clinch the FedExCup title with a solid performance at this week’s BMW Championship. The Tour is quick to point out that 24 players are still in mathematical contention to win the Cup — provided that Singh finishes last this week and again at the Tour Championship. Doesn’t seem likely, does it?

After disappointing performances in this year’s majors and three missed cuts in a four-tournament stretch had us wondering whether we’d seen the last of Vijay, he’s suddenly embarked on a tear that harkens back to his glory days of 2004, the year he won nine tournaments and snatched the No. 1 ranking away from Woods. His final-round 63 at the Deutsche Bank was one-man clinic; just ask his playing partner, Sergio Garcia. “He played amazing. It was awesome,” Garcia marveled. “I don’t think you guys are going to realize how good that was, because you aren’t playing and don’t realize how tough the course was playing. When Vijay plays like that, it’s hard to beat him.”

“He’s back to form,” said Ernie Els, another elite player who’s fallen on some difficult times and would love to emulate Singh’s resurgence. “He’s playing really good golf, he’s got some confidence going. He’s going to be a dangerous guy.”

One gets the feeling that Els isn’t simply referring to this week. Singh seems determined to welcome Tiger’s return to the Tour as Woods’ chief rival for dominance. For what it’s worth, he’s finally passed Woods for the top spot on the 2008 money list after his record-setting 22-under par performance at TPC Boston, his third win of the season. He’s won the last three tournaments in which he’s made the cut, adding the Deutsche Bank to last week’s Barclays and last month’s Bridgestone Invitational.

For his part, Singh attributes his surge to some good old-fashioned positive thinking, especially on the greens, where he’s been the subject of some derision after missing many critical putts and changing putters seemingly on a whim.

As he stood on the 14th green, facing a 60-foot birdie putt after having made birdie putts of eight and 35 feet moments earlier, he commented to caddie Chad Reynolds that he was the best putter in the world. “And he said, ‘You’re damn right you are, now go ahead and knock it in,” Singh said. “And I made it. Instead of standing there and hoping you’re going to get up-and-down in two, I was trying to make those putts.”

Singh carries a 12,225-point lead in the FedExCup standings over Garcia into this week’s BMW, assuring him of the lead going into the Tour Championship.

“I’m going to go out and play really hard,” Singh said. “If I have another win, it will be icing on the cake. But I don’t take anything for granted.”

Who’s No. 2?

Tiger has been dominant for more than a decade, but there’s been an ongoing debate over this generation’s No. 2 player. Singh has caught Phil Mickelson in career wins — both players now have 34 — but the hunch here is that he’s passed Lefty in career achievement for now, and history will consider Vijay the second-best player of his era.

Singh is the winningest foreign-born player in PGA Tour history. Unlike Mickelson, he’s actually spent time as the No. 1-ranked player in the world, grabbing the crown from Woods during his remarkable 2004 season and holding it for 32 weeks.

There’s still time for Mickelson to reverse this; Singh has won 21 times since turning 40, and Mickelson is only 38. But were their careers to end today, Singh holds the edge.

Here’s a side-by-side career comparison:

Paul’s Call

With Paul Azinger’s announcement of his captain’s picks, the Ryder Cup teams are all set for this month’s matches at Louisville’s Valhalla Country Club. His selections: Steve Stricker, Hunter Mahan, J.B. Holmes and Chad Campbell. That quartet joins the eight automatic qualifiers: Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, Ben Curtis and Boo Weekley.

Zinger clearly values recent production over Ryder Cup experience; Stricker, Mahan and Holmes are Ryder Cup rookies. In all, Azigner will be taking six rookies with him to Kentucky.

Here’s the list of Cup veterans who’ll be leading this young team:

Conversely, European captain Nick Faldo is bringing only four rookies — Soren Hansen, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose and Oliver Wilson — and his veterans have combined for 19 Cup appearances and 41 total points.

Language Barrier

The LPGA’s decision to require its players to learn English is understandable from a marketing standpoint. The Tour is struggling for sponsorship dollars, and the all-important pro-ams may be forcing the LPGA’s hand. Pairing a corporate big-wig with a player who doesn’t speak English could certainly diminish that exec’s experience and endanger the company’s ongoing support for the tour.

But the LPGA has failed the PR test with its ham-handed approach to announcing this decision. The move is clearly aimed at the South Korean presence on the tour, as South Koreans comprise one-third of the membership. But revenue from Korean television is the LPGA’s biggest single source of annual income, bringing the law of unintended consequences into play.