Vijay Singh can blast it past his smaller opponent, but Jeff Sluman can fall back on experience in today's final pairing.
By BOB HARIG
Published May 18, 2003
IRVING, Texas - The differences go well beyond their places on the score sheet: Vijay Singh, Fiji Islands; Jeff Sluman, Hinsdale, Ill.
They are worlds apart, and that goes for their golf games as well.
Singh is 6 feet 2, 200 pounds, and hits the ball forever. Sluman is 5 feet 7, 140 pounds (maybe) and does all he can to keep his name off the bottom of the driving distance stats on the PGA Tour.
In addition to their different pasts, they take separate paths to get it done on the golf course.
And still they have arrived at the same place, in today's final pairing at the Byron Nelson Championship.
Singh, 40, shot 1-under-par 69 at the TPC-Four Seasons on Saturday for a one-stroke lead over Sluman, 45, who shot 68 in the $5.6-million tournament.
It seems like a mismatch, as Singh drives the ball some 25 yards farther than Sluman.
"He's a major winner, he has won all over the world," said Sluman, a 1980 Florida State graduate who won the 1988 PGA Championship and has six tour titles. "He is a big, strong guy who hits it a mile and is fearless out there.
"I can't worry about whoever I am paired with. I just have to worry about my own game, and that goes back to being a little bit more of a veteran player than the young guy. If I was 24 or 25 and in my first or second year out here, I would be probably wondering how he thinks I am going to play. The reality is, you have to concentrate on your own game. It doesn't really matter who you are playing with. You've got to worry about yourself out there."
Singh, who opened the tournament with consecutive rounds of 65, was at 11-under 199. Sluman was a shot back. Luke Donald (67) and Cameron Beckman (67) were tied for third at 201, followed by Nick Price (66) and Per-Ulrik Johansson (67) at 202.
Last week's winner, David Toms, was in a six-way tie for seventh after the day's best score of 65 put him at 203.
Dade City's Tim Petrovic, who was a shot out of the lead starting the second round, shot 74 and dropped six back.
Price, the oldest player in the field at 46, was one of five players age 40 and older within four of the lead.
"I think shotmaking is one of the things that we may have an edge still on the young guys," said Price, who is 12th in the world ranking. "We have the ability to manipulate the ball a little more.
"Of course, when you have been out here 20 years you know the golf courses better than most guys."
In Singh's case, he practices more than most. Singh's driving-range regimen is legendary among his peers, though he says he's slacked off recently.
It was too much practice that caused a rib injury and led to a month break from the tour this year.
It only appears a matter of time before Singh wins again. He captured the Phoenix Open in January then suffered a setback with the injury. But since missing the cut at the Players Championship, he has tied for sixth at the Masters and his worst showing in four events was 11th. Last week he was second to David Toms at the Wachovia Championship, and he is fifth on the money list with more than $1.9-million.
"I played three rounds with him last week, and he is swinging the club as well as I've ever seen a human being," Price said. "The harder he hits it, the straighter it goes. There is no curve to his ball. The only mistakes he makes are mental."
Things are going so well for Singh that he decided to put a new putter in his bag after Thursday's opening 65.
"I feel so comfortable with that putter," he said. "I hope I don't jinx myself going into (today), but I feel the ball is rolling a lot better. That's why I am leading the golf tournament.
"I have been striking the ball (well) for a long time, more or less. After the injury it took me about two weeks to get back to it. I needed to make some putts, and that was stopping me from winning again."
