Vijay Singh has taken inspiration from Greg Norman's Open exploits and heads to the US PGA Championship insisting he feels like a 25-year-old again.
Fijian Singh fended off challenges from Lee Westwood, Stuart Appleby and Phil Mickelson to win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday night and declared: "I feel 20 years younger."
At 45 years and 163 days, Singh became the oldest winner since the WGC events began in 1999 as he sealed a one-stroke victory over Westwood and Appleby.
In a year that has seen 53-year-old Norman go close in the Open at Royal Birkdale and three other winners over the age of 40 on the PGA Tour - Kenny Perry, Steve Lowery and Greg Kraft - a delighted Singh made another case for longevity.
"I always feel 10 years younger," Singh said. "Now I feel like 20 years younger.
"It shows that you can still play no matter what your age is. It's just a number."
The US PGA starts at Oakland Hills on Thursday, and Singh will start among the favourites.
The Bridgestone win was his 20th since turning 40, and his 32nd on the PGA Tour, making him the most successful non-US player of all time after going past Englishman Harry Cooper's total of 31.
"I just feel comfortable right now," he explained. "I'm not worried about being 40 or 45 or even next year for that matter.
"I have a great trainer who's taken me to the next level, and I think he's done wonders for me. I've got to give all the kudos to him. I think he really took me through a difficult program and it's showing up now.
"As you get older, I guess you just have to work a little harder, and that's what he's done to me, and I just have to thank him a lot for that. That shows that if you're physically fit, you can play as long as you want to play.
"Look what Greg Norman did. He looks pretty much the same as he did when he was playing the tour. He's as fit as he ever was."
Singh's win at Firestone Country Club on an exciting final day saw him overcome some poor short putting to shoot a two-under-par 68 and hold off a fast-finishing Appleby and overnight co-leaders Westwood and Mickelson, who fell away to the a tie for fourth with Retief Goosen.
It was a hard-fought victory, the Fijian's first since taking the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in March 2007.
Singh believes his victory would bode well for the rest of the year.
"It gives me a lot of confidence," he said. "You know, I struck the ball really well, especially with my irons.
"Except for the second day, my driver was really good all week.
"It puts me in a really good frame of mind going into next week and the rest of the season.
"I was really confident, and although I hadn't won, I was confident I was going to win. I told everybody that knows me that it's just a matter of time, it's going to come.
"So I'm glad that it's happened so quickly. I mean, this was a six-week run, and I was geared up to win. I'm glad that it happened the first week out."
CASEY INVITES SINGH TO WATCH HIM TRAIN
NORMAN TURNS DOWN USPGA OFFER
Frey turns down Bayern move
