All-world : His second major victory in three years elevates Vijay Singh to the next level - 2000 Masters Tournament

Golf Digest, June, 2000 by Dan Jenkins

It's tempting to say that if the first major of the 21st century, the Masters, can be won by a Fijian-Indian by way of Borneo with a couple of letters missing from his last name, a guy who wears dark shades, putts cross-handed, claims to have a thousand putters at home, and enlists an Algerian for his teaching pro-an Algerian!-then maybe we should expect the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA this year to be won by the staff of National Geographic.

There's not much golf in Fiji, of course. Fiji is where you go to sit in a South Seas bar, wear a grimy white suit, grow stubble on your face, nurse a glass of gin under a ceiling fan, and wait for Rita Hayworth to walk in the door.

But Vijay Singh is a hell of a golfer, as he certainly proved on the Augusta National. He now steps forward as someone who can bring heat to Tiger Woods, who's more or less been heatless out there. Vijay joins his practice-round buddy, runner-up Ernie Els, in the category of relatively young guys with two majors and big games who at least occasionally can give Tiger something to worry about.

Until David Duval and Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia, for examples, prove they can win a major, and until Davis Love III and Justin Leonard, for other examples, prove they can win more than one, Tiger's living on easy street among the milquetoast robots who like to think they're challenging him.

Though the talk of a 2000 Tiger Slam is history, there's never been a gap this big between the dominant player of the era-Tiger-and his competition. People might be tempted to compare it with the Age of Nicklaus, but while Jack was winning his 18 professional majors from '62 through '86 he had to contend with Arnold Palmer and Gary Player early on, then Lee Trevino and Johnny Miller and Tom Watson.

So how many Palmers, Players, Trevinos, Millers and Watsons are there today to spur Tiger on, or keep him awake? Well, so far, nada, as in Zippo lighter, the Big Zero. Which is why it's so good to see Vijay step up. He's only 37, which may seem old if you compare him with Tiger, but it's young if you compare him with Greg Norman.

You have to wonder how many pros on our tour could have endured the bumpy trail that Vijay has traveled. Lives in Fiji for his first 17 years, teaches golf to himself on a nine-hole "airport" course. Turns pro and tries to play all those funny tours on four different continents, none of which are North America, and gets busted for having his way with the rules, if that's a nice way to put it. Adjusted his card to make a 36-hole cut, they said. He says it was a "misunderstanding." In any case, it got him two years in Borneo as a club pro in a place where 100 degrees is considered a sweater day.

Still, he never stopped hitting practice balls, which he considers a hobby as well as his job, and slowly, torturously, grindingly he fought his way back, all the way to our tour in '93. He's won seven regular events, along with the '98 PGA and now the Masters, and enough money to own a mansion in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., and live happily ever after, whenever his cross-handed putts start rimming out.

All the while his wife, Ardena, stuck by him and nine years ago presented him with the son, Qass Seth, that he clearly worships. That was Qass in the coveted red sweater who rushed out to greet his dad on the 18th froghair at Augusta in Vijay's moment of triumph.

Special bouquets to Ardena on the Borneo part, no kidding. You have to put the over-and-under number at 20 minutes on how long the average young American tour wife would have lasted there.

Vijay's opening 72 on Thursday didn't cause any stir because of all the talk about the expanded rough, which turned out to be of no importance, and because Dennis Paulson's 68 led. Paulson was a former long-drive champion, eight times in the Q school, a man with a goatee and a shaved head. First goatee to lead the Masters, right?

Brand-name Tom Lehman looked to be the leader most of the day when he played mistake-free golf until the last hole, when he took a detour off the freeway and quickly turned a 67 into a 69.

No matter. Paulson would drift away and the leader board would be taken over by so-called marquee names. Duval ran the back nine table on Friday for a low-tournament round of 65 and a one-stroke lead on the field. Duval's play was upstaged by Nicklaus making the cut at age 60 in the all-legend pairing with Palmer and Player. Which brought to mind that when Tiger Woods turns 60, it will be 2035 and part of the field will come from the top 50 on the Moon Rankings.

So overnight, the 2000 Masters lead went from Paulson's shaved head to Duval's shaved arms and golf's ugliest shirt. And what's with the shaved arms, David? Cut down wind resistance on the downswing? Didn't help on those balls that went splash at the 12th on Saturday or at 13 on Sunday.

Saturday was when rain and Winter Olympics weather turned Augusta into Innsbruck. The two-hour rain delay left eight players still on the course as night fell, freezing to death.