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Sitting pretty

Vijay Singh avoids two showers in his quest for a 2nd green jacket.

By BOB HARIG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 13, 2002

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The rain came early and late, turning beautiful Augusta National into a muddy mess.

Vijay Singh avoided the double deluge, which may have been as impressive as any shot he hit all day. On an ugly Friday at the Masters, Singh emerged smiling and shining. He shot 7-under-par 65 for the 36-hole clubhouse lead, playing the back nine in 30. For a guy who forged his resolve hitting balls in a Borneo rain forest, perhaps this was the perfect setting.

"Well, I'm not a very good wet-weather player, so I was glad to see the rain quit," said Singh, a native of Fiji. "And I hit the ball really good, really solid all day. And putted nicely. That's why the score shows."

Singh got started in the morning just as the rain let up. And he finished before a second storm dumped more water on the course, leading to a suspension of play at 5 p.m.

There were 38 players on the course scheduled to complete the second round starting at 7:45 this morning. The 36-hole cut of 44 players and ties will be made and the field rearranged, with the anticipated starting time for the third round at 10:45.

That's weather permitting. Scattered showers are in the forecast for the rest of the weekend, and the course was saturated Friday night. It promises to make for a long, sloppy weekend.

"It was pretty much over the line -- unplayable," said Stewart Cink, who played in the morning. "When you have standing water on the greens, that is above and beyond what we should do in a major championship."

Those who played early had it the worst, as a steady rain fell for much of the morning. But play wasn't interrupted in the morning, and eventually the greens dried, even if the fairways didn't.

Singh, one of the longest hitters in the game, took advantage of the soft conditions with four birdies and an eagle on the back nine.

He led by three over South Africa's Retief Goosen, the reigning U.S. Open champion who completed 11 holes. Ireland's Padraig Harrington (70), Spain's Sergio Garcia (71) and Argentina's Angel Cabrera (71) were at 139, 5 under and four back of Singh.

Continuing the United Nations theme on the leaderboard, Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez (71) and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn (67), who set a Masters record with birdies on the first five holes, were at 141, tied for sixth with Phil Mickelson (72). Defending champion Tiger Woods completed 10 holes and was six back at 3 under, tied with Chris DiMarco and Jose Maria Olazabal, who didn't complete the back nine. First-round leader Davis Love followed his opening 67 with 75 and was at 142, seven back.

At one point in the second round there were eight players tied for the lead at 4 under. And it appeared few, if any, would break through that barrier.

But Singh emerged with birdies at the 12th and 13th holes and made a 25-foot putt for eagle at the 15th. When he followed with birdies at the 17th and 18th holes, he had posted a stunning score.

"It is strong," Garcia said. "That 30 on the back nine is quite sweet. He must have played really good and putted well and have a lot of things go his way."

That had not been the case for Singh until recently. The two-time major-championship winner had no wins on the PGA Tour since the 2000 Masters until two weeks ago, when he won the Houston Open with a 72-hole scoring record.

Singh typically was on leaderboards and finished no worse than fifth on the PGA Tour money list in the past four seasons, but his 10 PGA Tour victories could be double as often as he contended.

"It played on my mind a lot," Singh said. "This year it started off the same way. I was in position to win, and I didn't. So I had to have a talk with myself and say, 'Listen, just go out and play your game and if the win comes, it will be great.'

"Houston was a good week for that. I played really well, I started well and it just kind of eased a lot of the pressure in my mind. Coming here I didn't have any pressure on me. All the talk was on the other guys, and I thought, 'That's great, I'm just going to go out there and play my game.' I'm playing well enough to perform well."

So far, Singh's plan is working.

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