Tuesday, September 9, 2008

SINGH HEADS TO EUROPE

World number three Vijay Singh has revealed he will play more frequently on the European Tour next year.

Moments after winning the US PGA Tour's FedEx Cup play-off series on Sunday night, Singh spoke enthusiastically about competing more in Europe.

The incentive, of course, is the new Race to Dubai, which culminates with the Dubai World Championship next November, and Singh is prepared to play the 11 events that are required to be eligible.

"I plan to play 11 and if I qualify for Dubai, I'm obviously going to play that as well," said the 45-year-old from Fiji, who won the first two play-off events before finishing equal 44th behind winner Camilo Villegas at the BMW Championship in St Louis.

Singh is already a European Tour member but he played in only eight events last year, and has made only eight so far this year, so the lure of the Race to Dubai seems to be proving the attraction the tour was hoping for.

Not only will the Dubai World Championship be worth Ј5million, but an additional Ј5million prize pool will be distributed among the season's top 15 players on the Order of Merit.

The Race to Dubai event has also persuaded talented Australian Adam Scott to retain his membership for 2009 and the tour will receive a huge boost if Phil Mickelson also joins, which is expected soon.

World number two Mickelson has been tight-lipped, admitting only that he has not ruled it out, no doubt preferring to make a big announcement when he is ready.

After his two straight play-off victories, Singh struggled on the greens at Bellerive over the weekend, finishing a distant 15 strokes behind Villegas, who become the first Colombian to win on the PGA Tour.

Villegas shot a closing 68 to finish at 15-under 265, two strokes ahead of American Dudley Hart.

But while Villegas won the battle, Singh won the war, clinching the Ј5million bonus awarded to the play-off winner.

Technically, he still needs to complete 72 holes at the Tour Championship finale to be absolutely certain.

If he is disqualified there, and Villegas wins again, then the Colombian will win the play-offs, but it is an unlikely occurrence.

"I hit the ball from tee to green pretty good but you've got to make the putts on these huge greens and I just didn't putt like the last two weeks," said Singh.

"I was pretty focused this week, and tried pretty hard and never gave up but after grinding for three days, sooner or later it's going to get to you and I think at the end it was getting to everybody who wasn't in contention."

The European contingent did not threaten the top of the leaderboard, with Swede Fredrik Jacobson finishing the strongest after storming home with a 65 to tie for 10th, six shots off the pace.

Sergio Garcia had a decent week in his last outing before the Ryder Cup, equal 20th while a weary Padraig Harrington was equal 55th.

Harrington failed to advance to the 30-man Tour Championship, which will feature only two Europeans, Garcia and Swede Carl Pettersson.


Huntelaar Tightlipped Concerning His Future
EURO TOUR DECISION IN OCTOBER
Toni loses fitness race