Ugly score but beauty is in win

On his second visit to the 18th green at Whistling Straits on Sunday evening, as the shadows from the giant bleachers edged across the putting surface, Vijay Singh did two things.

Firstly, with his tap-in par putt, he won the three-way three-hole play-off over Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco to claim the 86th US PGA championship, his third career major; and, secondly, he edged ominously close to Tiger Woods in the world rankings.

While Woods - who has now gone 10 majors without a win - remained as world number one in the latest rankings, and stretched his sequence in that position to a record 332 weeks, Singh leapfrogged over Ernie Els to move back as world number two and closed the gap on Woods to just .10 of a point. The Fijian could well overtake him at this week's NEC Invitational at Akron.

That Singh makes the journey to Ohio as the PGA champion - adding to his successes in the same championship in 1998 and to his 2000 US Masters success - is a tribute to his perseverance, and to a little help from Leonard who bogeyed two of his last three holes to give Singh a second chance, after he had shot a finishing 76 (for 280).

It was the highest final round score by a champion in the PGA and the worst final round by a major champion since Reg Whitcombe shot a closing 78 at Royal St George's in winning the 1938 British Open.

"I think this is the biggest accomplishment I've ever had in my whole career," said Singh, who was winning for the fifth time this season on the US Tour. "I don't have that many years to contend (in majors), probably another five or six. I'd like to win a few more before I finish, and this is a great start."

Asked was it the ugliest win of his career, Singh responded: "It looked ugly, when you look at the score, (but) it's the prettiest. I must say that I really tried my hardest out there. I just hung in, never gave up and I just said, 'I'm going to make a putt sooner or later'."

In fact, his lone birdie of the day came on the first play-off hole, the 10th, and that was enough to put daylight between himself and both Leonard and DiMarco, neither of whom were required to finish out after Singh followed up with two pars in the remaining play-off holes.

Singh, who once worked as a club professional in the Borneo jungle and has a curriculum vitae stamped with wins in 15 countries around the globe, put his name on the Wannamaker Trophy for a second time and seems destined to win the player of the year accolade on the US PGA Tour.

The win was Singh's ninth success in the past 18 months.