THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY SOUTHERN COMPANY AND MERCEDES-BENZ

October 29, 1998

Vijay Singh

VIJAY SINGH: Yeah.

VIJAY SINGH: Well, unbelievable. I shot the ball probably the best I did all year. From tee to green was really solid. I think I missed one tee shot. I missed one fairway with a driver. That is very much unlike me. You know, drove it really good, hit a lot of good iron shots to the green. Putted nicely. When you do all those things, I guess, you know, you're in for a good, low score.

VIJAY SINGH: Well, I'm still pretty worried about that. We still have three more days to go. I know I'm going to hit it in there sooner or later. It's still very hard. I played with Tiger today. He didn't strike the ball that well. It's a good work out trying to hit out of there, for anybody. You know, it's very dangerous as well. If you're going for a big hit, you can hurt yourself.

VIJAY SINGH: Twice. You know, I had a -- I laid up on 9 with an 8-iron. I think on 12, I had a wedge to the green, so it wasn't really deep. It was just about a foot in.

VIJAY SINGH: Like I said, I drove the ball really long and straight. I was going in with short-iron to middle irons. Longest iron I hit today was a 6-iron, I think onto the 16th hole. If you're doing that, if you feel under par, you can really go at the flags. That's what I did. I hit a lot of shots close, made some nice putts.

VIJAY SINGH: Uh-huh.

VIJAY SINGH: From the tee to green, this is the best I've hit, yeah. You know, the ball came out of the cup really solid, too. Every drive I hit was down the middle, except for one. Iron shots, I was so confident hitting onto the greens. I think the rhythm today was so good, it just felt comfortable all day.

VIJAY SINGH: It wasn't easy. I mean, all the putts, you have to be very careful with the putts. If you're wrong side of the hole, you can very easily hit it six, eight feet by. Really, the greens, you have to be really careful out here. You've got to watch where you put the balls.

VIJAY SINGH: A little bit. Doesn't bother much at all, though.

VIJAY SINGH: No.

VIJAY SINGH: Well, that's the first I've heard, so. I just hope he played roughs this big (laughter). But I don't know. I was never expecting to shoot anything like it. Going out there today, I just said, you know, "Make sure you just play solid, shoot a good number, don't shoot yourself out." Turned out really good for me.

VIJAY SINGH: I wasn't comfortable. I was hitting -- wasn't really comfortable hitting. That's what happens. I played a lot of rounds where I've been very uncomfortable in the practice range, kind of you have to concentrate a little more harder on the golf course. Probably that happened a bit.

VIJAY SINGH: Today was an exceptional round, I think for anybody to shoot 63 around here. You know, again, I have to emphasize my tee ball, put it on the fairways. If you put the ball on the fairway, you're not going to shoot that high of a number. Every hole out here, I was going in with, you know, 8-iron, 9-iron, wedges. If you do that, you've hit enough shots with 8-, 9-irons to put it close to the hole. If I was missing the fairway, once you miss the fairway, you can't even get to the green, leave aside hitting the green. That's where the bogeys come in.

VIJAY SINGH: You know, I've had a lot of good rounds, a lot of good rounds made up by good putts. You at least make three or four 15-footers, 20-footers. Today I think the longest putt I had was on 9, which was 18 foot, it was back edge of the green. You know, I think four or five of them were almost give me's. If you start doing that. I think it's probably one of the best rounds I've had ever from tee to green.

VIJAY SINGH: Yeah, I did. I was about to stop, but I didn't. I just went on and hit it (laughter).

VIJAY SINGH: Very much so. Yeah, just going cross-handed, I feel very comfortable. I've had a few bad putting rounds. From six, eight feet in, I'm feeling very comfortable over the ball. That's probably why I shot a good number today. This is the best greens I've ever putted, bent greens, ever. So if you put the ball in the right position, stroke feels good, you're going to shoot low.

VIJAY SINGH: Tuesday was really fast. I thought Tuesday's green were the fastest ever I putted on. It got pretty quick today as well. Just the same as yesterday. You know, I was comfortable with the pace.

VIJAY SINGH: Yeah. I have all his books, his tapes that he made. This was going back probably eight years that I started collecting books. I stopped doing that now. Started collecting too many of them. Yeah, you know, I know his history. I've looked at his tapes. I liked the way he swung the club and his rhythm.

VIJAY SINGH: Very much so. It was a good round, it was a 62 in my mind. I hit that putt, what five feet by. It was a tough putt. It's always disappointing leaving 18 with a bogey. It's sad that a good round -- it's still a good round, but it could have been one less, if I just 2-putted. You know, you can't go that way. You look back and say how many eight-footers you made all day. It kind of evens out.

VIJAY SINGH: No.

VIJAY SINGH: I have no problems with that. The week after the PGA and Sprint, I was back to normal. I mean, it didn't really bother me. The players have been really boosting my confidence. They're coming up to me, approaching me, saying good things about my game. A lot more autographs. Apart from that, it's been pretty normal. My wife is handling all the phone calls, by the way.

VIJAY SINGH: I hit a driver, 9-iron, to about six feet. 3rd hole, I hit a driver, sand wedge, to about a foot. 5th hole, I hit a driver, 9-iron, to about eight feet. 8th hole, I hit a 3-iron, pitching wedge to about a foot. 9TH, I hit a driver, 8-iron, laid up, hit a sand wedge about 15, 18 foot. What was the next one?

VIJAY SINGH: I hit a 7-iron to about six feet, eight feet.

VIJAY SINGH: 13, I hit a 3-wood, sand wedge, to about a foot.

VIJAY SINGH: 15, I hit a 3-wood in the bunker, hit a 4-iron on the green, and 2-putted from about 25 foot. Second putt was about a foot and a half. Bogeyed the last hole. I hit 2-iron, it was a good 40-footer, 3-putted it.

VIJAY SINGH: Yeah. On 10, I hit a pretty good drive, hit the top of the flag with my second shot, bounced off of the green. That was a pretty unfortunate break. I had a good lie in the rough, chipped it down about six foot and made it. Then on 12, I just missed the fairway with my 2-iron, hit in the bunker. Had a good bunker shot to about another five foot. Those were the two good saves I had.

VIJAY SINGH: Thank you, very much.