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BOB HARIGWith conditions perfect, Vijay Singh ties the U.S. Open record of 63 to share the lead with Brad Faxon.
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. - A revered major championship record was within his grasp Friday afternoon, with a heckler and history confronting him.
Vijay Singh ignored it all, acting as if the 63 shots he took Friday at Olympia Fields Country Club were no big deal among the millions he has struck in an enigmatic career. There was a feeling not even Annika Sorenstam could have rattled Singh had she taunted him from the grandstand.
With controversy swirling around him in recent weeks, Singh remained singular in purpose on the course, as he proved with his record-tying 63 in the second round of the 103rd U.S. Open.
Singh, who has finished no worse than 11th in his past six PGA Tour events (including a victory) shot the fourth 63 in a U.S. Open, the first in 23 years, to tie fellow Ponte Vedra Beach resident Jim Furyk for the 36-hole lead.
And he had an excellent chance to go where nobody has gone before. But Singh missed a 10-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole that would have given him the best score in a major, dating to the first British Open in 1860.
Singh wasn't aware he was chasing such an elusive number until playing partner Rocco Mediate told him after the 17th.
And that's how it goes for Singh these days. He criticizes Sorenstam, tells the media he won't talk unless he leads a tournament, fires his caddie ... and takes the lead at the U.S. Open.
"I've focused on what I'm doing, and that's playing the golf course and golf tournaments," said Singh, 40, who has two victories this year and is the fourth-ranked player in the world. "And I don't read too much newspapers. I just don't let things like that bother me. So I'm more focused on what I'm doing and let everything take care of itself."
Singh and Furyk did get one record, the U.S. Open 36-hole mark of 7-under 133.
They lead Stephen Leaney (68) and Jonathan Byrd (66) by two. Defending champ Tiger Woods shot 66 to move into a five-way tie for fifth at 136 with Nick Price (65), Eduardo Romero (66), Fredrik Jacobson (67) and Justin Leonard (70).
Tom Watson, 53, the first-round co-leader with 65, was unable to duplicate the magic during the second round, shooting 2-over 72 that included a bogey at the last hole. Co-leader Brett Quigley shot 74.
"The golf course is there for the taking," Watson said of conditions that didn't include the expected wind. "It's soft. It wasn't as difficult as you would expect a U.S. Open golf course to be. They're trying to protect par, but they're having a tough time with the greens so soft."
Furyk, 33, has 11 top 10s in 31 major championships, including a fourth-place finish at this year's Masters. But he hasn't won a major or more than one PGA Tour event in a season. He has seven victories, none this year, but he leads the tour with 10 top-10 finishes. He made four birdies and no bogeys in the second round.
Then came Singh, who feels he has been treated unfairly by media after he said last month that Sorenstam's playing in the PGA Tour's Colonial was "ridiculous," that "she didn't belong" in a men's event, that he would withdraw if paired with her and he hoped she missed the cut. He won the Byron Nelson Championship the week he spoke out.
Singh withdrew from Colonial and has heard negative comments since. On Friday a fan at No.14 was ejected for yelling as Singh approached the green. Singh appeared visibly angry and waved his putter at the man as he was escorted out.
Later Singh denied there was a problem. "I didn't know there was anything," he said. When pressed about waving, Singh said, "I was waving to my caddie." That caddie, by the way, is Dave Renwick, who this week replaced Paul Tesori, who had carried Singh's bag for two wins and more than $3-million this year.
Singh made the birdie putt at the 14th after the fan was ejected, added another at the 15th and parred in.
He declined to answer questions about Sorenstam.
Singh, the winner of two majors, could have reached the previously unreachable number of 62. He made bogey at the fourth and three-putted the par-5 sixth for another.
"You can always look back and say that," Singh said of what might have been. "But I was thinking about making birdies and trying to get as close to Furyk as possible. And I finally managed to catch him. That was more my concern than shooting a low number."