Vijay Singh leaves Woods and Mickelson in his wake
Jim Wilson
Vijay Singh shot a five-under-par 65 on Saturday 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 III by three strokes at the East Lake Golf Club. Howell hit a 69.
Woods and Mickelson, the number one and two players in the world, were a further two shots back along with David Toms, the world number six.
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 an 82-foot eagle putt on the par-five 15th hole 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 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 get close, within three feet."
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.
"I was lucky enough to get great saves," he said. "On 16, I thought that was one of the best chip shots I've hit for a long 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 here 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 a youngster.
"Everybody has asked me that. I just think it suits my eye. Whenever I come here, I play well," he said.
