Vijay Singh saved par at the final hole on Friday, completing a difficult day on the wind-whipped Kapalua Plantation course with a one-shot lead over Trevor Immelman and American Will MacKenzie in the Mercedes-Benz Championship, being played in Kapalua, Hawaii.
”When we made the turn, the ball was oscillating on the greens and just getting a little too difficult there,” said Singh, who thought the conditions even warranted stopping play in the US PGA Tour’s season-opening event.
”The wind was howling.”
But Singh coped admirably. His only bogey of the day came at the par-four fourth, but he rebounded with an eagle at the par-five fifth, knocking a four-iron to 20 feet and holing the putt.
”I just played very consistent from there in, did not do too much wrong,” he said. ”I controlled my ball flight and just played solid golf.
”Controlling your ball flight is the key in conditions like today [Friday] and yesterday. I missed three or four greens, but that’s understandable. I’m in control of my game, so looking forward to the weekend. I would like to see it calm down a little bit.”
Singh looked in danger of surrendering his lead when he pulled his drive into a hazard at the par-five 18th, taking a penalty stroke before finding the green with a booming 285-yard third shot.
He two-putted for par to finish with a 69, giving him an eight-under 138 and a one-shot lead over South Africa’s Trevor Immelman and American Will MacKenzie.
Immelman fired a 68 and MacKenzie closed with a 70 for five-under to share second on 139.
MacKenzie parred the last as well, after a disappointing three-putt bogey at the 17th, where he got rattled by a slow play warning from an official.
”I didn’t do anything real special, but I didn’t do anything bad,” he said. ”I kept the ball in play, hit a lot of greens, a lot of great little iron shots into the wind. This is a shotmaker’s paradise right now.”
Immelman (27), who stamped himself as a rising star by finishing seventh on last year’s money list, also performed impressively in the conditions.
”I grew up playing in a lot of wind,” he said. ”I did my time in Europe and got to experience a lot of the sort of weather we’ve experienced the first two days. Whether I’m good in it or not, I don’t know, but I’m fairly used to it.”
Americans JB Holmes and Chris Couch were three shots off the pace as strong winds again made things difficult in the US PGA Tour’s season-opening event.
Heavy rain delayed the start of play for an hour and 20 minutes, and the effect of the winds was mitigated somewhat by the softer course.
Singh, who was part of a five-way tie for the first-round lead, has not finished outside the top eight in his past seven starts here but still is seeking his first victory.
Australian Stuart Appleby, looking to become the fourth player in Tour history to win the same event four consecutive years, fell seven shots behind after signing for a 72.
”I’ve got to shoot four or five under tomorrow [Saturday],” he said. ”Just standing up is a difficult thing, let alone trying to take a putter back.” — Sapa-AFP