Vijay Singh quickly turned a showdown between the world’s top two golfers into a rout at the Buick Open on Saturday.
Singh started the third round one stroke ahead of Tiger Woods, then birdied the first three holes while Woods bogeyed numbers two to four.
Singh matched the tournament record of seven under on the front nine and closed with a 63 for a tournament 54-hole record of 22-under 194.
If Singh holds on to his five-shot lead, he’ll be the first three-time champion at the Buick Open, a tournament that started in 1958, and the first champion to repeat since Tony Lema in 1965.
As great as Singh’s round was, it could have been better if his putting was more consistent. He missed short putts for birdie at numbers seven and 14 and another for par at the 16th. It still was good enough, however, to beat Robert Wrenn’s 54-hole tournament record of 21 under, set in 1987.
Woods is the top-ranked player in the world, and Singh is number two.
They have alternated positions atop the world ranking for nearly a year.
Woods had three straight bogeys — falling seven strokes behind after four holes — before finishing two under for the round and 14 under for the tournament, eight shots behind Singh. His 22-foot par putt at the 18th spun around the cup, giving him a fourth bogey.
Zach Johnson (65) is at 17 under, alone in second place. Johnson won a tournament last year as a 28-year-old rookie and he’s 42nd on the United States PGA money list this year with three top-10 finishes. Chris DiMarco (66) will begin Sunday’s final round six shots back.
Singh began the week with three victories, the same total he had entering the 2004 Buick Open. His last victory at the Buick Open started a run of six wins, including the US PGA Championship, in eight events en route to player-of-the-year honours.
Woods opened at Warwick Hills with a 71 — snapping a tournament-record tying streak of eight straight rounds in the 60s — and then vaulted into contention on Friday with an 11 under, his best round in relation to par.
Woods is playing for the first time since winning the British Open two weeks ago, and two weeks before the PGA Championship, where he will shoot for his 11th major title. — Sapa-AP