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Vijay Singh (born February 22, 1963 in Lautoka,
Fiji) is a Fiji|Fijian  golfer on the PGA TOUR who
has won three major championships (one The
Masters|Masters in 2000 and two PGA
Championship|PGA Championships in 1998 and 2004)
and was the leading money winner in 2003 and 2004.
Singh, who is a Fijian citizen, grew up in Nadi.

Vijay, a resident of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida,
is of Indian ancestry, the son of a airplane
technician who also taught golf. Growing up, he
admired the swing of Tom Weiskopf, using it as an
early model for his own. 

Standing six feet two (1.88 m), Vijay is married
to Ardena Seth. They have a son, Qass Seth, born
on 16 June 1990. 

==Career history==

Vijay began playing professionally in 1982 and won
several international victories, including the
Malaysia|Malaysian PGA Championship in 1984. 
Singh was suspended from the Asian Tour in 1985
over allegations he doctored his scorecard, then
worked as a club pro in Borneo trying to save his
money to resurrect his career.  He won the
Nigerian Open in 1988, to qualify for the European
Tour.  In 1989 he won the Ivory Coast Open,
Zimbabwe Open and Volvo Open di Firenze, then in
1990 El Bosque Open, and in 1991 the King Hassan
Trophy.

He finally made it to the PGA Tour in 1993.  Vijay
won his first PGA TOUR event, the Westchester
Classic|Buick Classic in a playoff over Mark
Wiebe.  That victory led to Vijay being named the
1993 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year. After being
hampered with back and neck problems in 1994,
Vijay came back to win the Buick Classic again in
1995 as well as the Phoenix Open.  After playing
well in 1996 (but with no victories), Vijay  won
both the Memorial Tournament and the Buick Open in
1997.

In 1998, Vijay was victorious at the PGA
Championship at Sahalee Country Club|Sahalee in
Sammamish, Washington, playing a 70-66-67-68 over
the four days (66 tied a course record) and giving
him his first Major title. He followed up his
first Major title by winning The Masters in 2000
with a three-stroke victory over Ernie Els.  

In 2001, Vijay was not victorious in any
tournaments, but finished the year with a
Tour-best 14 top-10 finishes and was fourth on the
money list with $3,440,829 on the year. In 2002,
Vijay won at the Royal Dutch/Shell|Shell Houston
Open at TPC at The Woodlands, setting a new
72-hole scoring record with a 65, and at the Tour
Championship, winning by two strokes over Charles
Howell III.

2003 proved to be a very successful year for
Vijay. He won four tournaments, had 18 top-10
finishes and was the PGA TOUR's money leader (and
second all-time single-season total) with
$7,573,907, beating Tiger Woods by $900,494. Vijay
 had victories at the Phoenix Open, the EDS Byron
Nelson Championship, the John Deere Classic and
the Funai Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort.

However, the 2003 season was also spotted with
controversy surrounding the year's event at the
Colonial. LPGA star Annika Sörenstam became the
first woman to play at a PGA TOUR event since Babe
Zaharias at the 1945 Los Angeles Open. Surrounding
this fervor, Vijay was misquoted as having said
that Sörenstam "didn't belong" on the men's tour
and that he wouldn't play if he were paired with
her.  What he actually said is that he wouldn't be
paired with her because his playing partner was
being selected from the past champion's pool. 
Vijay later clarified, "There are guys out there
trying to make a living. It's not a ladies' tour.
If she wants to play, she should -- or any other
woman for that matter - if they want to play the
man's tour, they should qualify and play like
everybody else."

Continuing his torrid pace Singh began 2004 by
winning the AT&T Pro-Am|AT&T Pebble Beach National
Pro-Am at -16 and winning $954,000 in prize money.
This was his first win on tour in 2004 and his
16th all-time on the PGA TOUR. It was his 12th
consecutive top-10 finish, which is two shy of
Jack Nicklaus|Jack Nicklaus' all-time record. 

Singh won the final major of 2004, winning the PGA
Championship, his third major, in a three-hole
playoff over Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco.
Singh was the leader by one shot over Leonard
going into the final round, but made no birdies in
the final round, finishing regulation at
67-68-69-76=280. His final round of 76 was the
highest winning score by a major champion since
1955. The playoff was a tense affair, and Vijay 's
birdie on the first playoff hole, his first birdie
of the day, proved to be the difference.

On September 6 2004 (Labor Day), Singh won the
Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston. With the
win, Singh overtook Tiger Woods at the top of the
Official World Golf Rankings, ending Wood's streak
of 264 weeks at the top of the golf world.

He finished the 2004 season with a career-best
nine victories, 18 top-10s, and a record
$10,905,166 in earnings and was named the PGA
TOUR's and PGA of America's Player of the Year. 

Despite picking up a win early in 2005, Singh lost
his world number 1 ranking when Tiger Woods won
the Ford Championship at Doral on 6 March, but
just two weeks later he took it back again after
notching up top three finishes in three
consecutive weeks. Followings Tiger Woods|Woods'
win at the 2005 The Masters Tournament|Masters,
Singh once again lost his place as World No. 1 in
the Official World Golf Rankings and finished tied
for fifth place.  In April, he became the youngest
living person elected to the World Golf Hall of
Fame, garnering 56% of the ballot. He will lose
the distinction of being the youngest living
entrant when the 30-year-old Karrie Webb joins the
Hall of Fame later in 2005, but not that of the
youngest living electee, as Webb qualified for the
Hall without an election process. (The 19th
century great Tom Morris, Jr., who was elected in
1975, died at age 24.)

Singh's career has been marked by steady sustained
progress based on exceptional commitment to
practice. Even when he was in his late thirties
few suspected that he was a future World Number 1,
but he has won 16 times since turning 40 - second
only to Sam Snead's 17 wins after 40 - and his 28
career victories is the most on the PGA Tour by a
non-American player.

==Results in major championships==
{| cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="1"
style="font-size: 95%; border: #aaa solid 1px;
border-collapse: collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
! Tournament !! 1989 !! 1990 !! 1991 !! 1992 !!
1993 !! 1994 !! 1995 !! 1996 !! 1997 !! 1998 !!
1999
|-
|The Masters Tournament|The Masters
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T27
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T39
|align="center"|T17
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T24

|-
|U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T10
|align="center"|T7
|align="center"|T77
|align="center"|T25
|align="center"|T3

|-
|The Open Championship|British Open
|align="center"|23
|align="center"|T12
|align="center"|T12
|align="center"|T51
|align="center"|T59
|align="center"|T20
|align="center"|T6
|align="center"|T11
|align="center"|T38
|align="center"|T19
|align="center"|CUT

|-
|PGA Championship
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T48
|align="center"|4
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T5
|align="center"|T13
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|T49
|}

{| cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="1"
style="font-size: 95%; border: #aaa solid 1px;
border-collapse: collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
! Tournament !! 2000 !! 2001 !! 2002 !! 2003 !!
2004 !! 2005
|-
|The Masters Tournament|The Masters
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|T18
|align="center"|7
|align="center"|T6
|align="center"|T6
|align="center"|T5

|-
|U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open
|align="center"|T8
|align="center"|T7
|align="center"|T30
|align="center"|T20
|align="center"|T28
|align="center"|T6

|-
|The Open Championship|British Open
|align="center"|T11
|align="center"|T13
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T2
|align="center"|T20
|align="center"|T5

|-
|PGA Championship
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T51
|align="center"|8
|align="center"|T34
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|T10
|}

DNP = did not play

CUT = missed the half way cut

"T" indicates a tie for a place.

==PGA Tour career summary==

Year
Majors
Other wins
Total
wins
Earnings ($)
Rank
1993
0
1
1
657,831
19
1994
0
0
0
325,959
52
1995
0
2
2
1,018,713
9
1996
0
0
0
855,140
17
1997
0
2
2
1,059,236
16
1998
1
1
2
2,238,998
2
1999
0
1
1
2,283,233
4
2000
1
0
1
2,573,835
5
2001
0
0
0
3,440,829
4
2002
0
2
2
3,756,563
3
2003
0
4
4
7,573,907
1
2004
1
8
9
10,905,166
1
2005
0*
4*
4*
http://www.pgato
ur.com/players/results/132108/2005
7,307,669*
http://www.pgatour.com/stats/leaders
/r/2005/109 2*
Total
3*
25*
28*
http://www.pg
atour.com/stats/leaders/r/2005/110
44,067,757*
http://www.pgatour.com/stats/leader
s/r/2005/110 2*


* as at 2 September 2005.

There is a summary of Singh's European Tour career
http://www.europeantour.com/players/bio.sps?iPlaye
rNo=4253&sOption=history here

==Tournament victories==
PGA Tour wins (28)

*1993: Westchester Classic|Buick Classic
*1995: Westchester Classic|Buick Classic, Phoenix
Open
*1997: Memorial Tournament, Buick Open
*1998: PGA Championship, The International
*1999: Honda Classic
*2000: The Masters Tournament|The Masters
*2002: Shell Houston Open, Tour Championship
*2003: Phoenix Open, EDS Byron Nelson
Championship, John Deere Classic, Funai Classic
*2004: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Shell
Houston Open, HP Classic of New Orleans, Buick
Open, PGA Championship, Deutsche Bank
Championship, Bell Canadian Open, 84 LUMBER
Classic, Chrysler Championship
*2005: Sony Open, Shell Houston Open, Wachovia
Championship, Buick Open

Major championships are shown in bold.

European Tour wins (12)
*1989: Volvo Open Championship
*1990: El Bosque Open
*1992: Turespana Masters, Volvo German Open
*1994: Scandinavian Masters, Lancome Trophy
*1997: South African Open (co-sanctioned with
Southern African Tour)
*1998: (PGA Championship)
*2000: (The Masters Tournament|The Masters)
*2001: Malaysian Open, Singapore Masters
*2004: (PGA Championship)

Singh's major championship victories are repeated
here because the three major championships played
in the United States became official events on the
European Tour in 1998.

Other professional wins (13)
*1984: Malaysian PGA Championship
*1988: Nigerian Open (golf)|Nigerian Open, Swedish
PGA (not a European Tour event)
*1989: Nigerian Open, Ivory Coast Open, Zimbabwe
Open, 
*1991: King Hassan Trophy
*1992: Malaysian Open
*1993: Bells Cup
*1995: Passport Open
*1997: Toyota World Match Play Championship
(England, not an official European Tour event at
that time)
*2000: Taiwan Open
*2003: Canadian Skins Game (unofficial event)

==Notable Achievements==
*2003: Top of the PGA TOUR money list
*2004: In September displaces Tiger Woods as the
number 1 ranked played on the World Golf Rankings.
*2004: Top of the PGA TOUR money list and the
first player to earn more than $10 million in a
single PGA TOUR season.
*2004: Tied fifth most wins in a single PGA Tour
season (9 from 29 events) and tied first since
1950; see Most PGA Tour wins in a year|complete
list here. The PGA Player of the Year.

==Other interests==
In May 2005, Singh was appointed a goodwill
ambassador for Fiji.  He said that he did not
expect anything in return from the Fijian
government for representing his country.  At a
press conference on 18 May 2005, Singh lamented
what he said was a deterioration in race relations
in Fiji, saying that for such a small country,
people of all races should live together, put
their differences aside, and get on with life. 
Relations between Indo-Fijians and Fijian
people|indigenous Fijians had been more harmonious
when he was younger, he said.

==See also==
*Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
*Golfers with most European Tour wins
*Golfers with most major titles

==External Links==
*http://www.pgatour.com/players/bio/132108 PGA
Tour Profile
*http://www.golfstarsonline.com/S/Vijay_Singh/
Vijay Singh at Golf Stars Online Links to relevant
interviews, articles, multimedia clips etc.
*http://golf.about.com/od/golfersmen/p/vijay_singh
.htm Vijay Singh on About.com Profile and stats

Golf world number ones (men)