PGA CHAMPIONSHIP : Singh Swings to a Record 63 : Golf: He has eight birdies en route to a two-shot lead at Inverness, but others, including Watson, are close behind.

By GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI

Aug. 14, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

TOLEDO, Ohio —

Vijay Singh, the new leader of the 75th PGA Championship, is from that noted cradle of golf, the Fiji Islands, where news of his record-breaking, eight-under-par 63 Friday might not arrive until next week.

At Inverness, though, where the course was as tame as a carnival pony, word of Singh’s eight-birdie day--five of them in the last seven holes--spread quickly through the spectator galleries and players’ locker room.

Course and PGA records tend to do that.

On a day when the still, muggy summer air turned every golfer’s shirt two shades darker, Singh turned Scott Simpson’s first-round 64 into a footnote. Singh also tied the lowest score ever recorded during a major championship, joining 11 other players on the list.

Even so, Singh, who started the day three under par, didn’t exactly distance himself from the field with his 131 total. Lots of players picked on helpless Inverness, including Lanny Wadkins and Steve Elkington, who share second place, two shots behind Singh. Elkington had a 66. Wadkins finished with a 68 and knew it could have been better.

Another stroke back at eight-under 134 were Simpson (70), Loren Roberts (67), Dudley Hart (68), Eduardo Romero (67) and the rejuvenated Tom Watson (65), who later said he hasn’t played this well in 16 years.

But no one played better than Singh, 30, who, according to his tour bio, is “the most famous Fijian golfer of all time.” Some honor. Is that like being the best bobsledder in Jamaica?

Unlike most pros, Singh doesn’t have a swing guru, doesn’t sit at the knee of a sports psychologist and doesn’t think twice about spending six hours beating range balls until his hands ache. His fellow PGA Tour players regard him as the hardest-working man in the game.

Singh learned to play by caddying for his father and later read every Bobby Jones golf book and every piece of Tom Weiskopf instructional literature he could find.

“I just always wanted to play golf all my life,” he said.

Singh did that and more Friday. He didn’t bogey a hole and putted as if his ball had a crush on every cup.

Still, Singh didn’t have a clue that he was approaching the rarefied air of major championship records. As he arrived at the 18th green, where the caddie for Mike Standly, part of the day’s threesome, mentioned the importance of Singh’s five-foot birdie attempt.

“That’s for a course record,” the caddie said.

A few moments later, the ball sat in the bottom of the cup and Singh sat atop the PGA Championship field.

This is only Singh’s second PGA and only his fifth major. He has finished 12th twice at the British Open, but that about does it for highlights at the biggies.

Then there is Watson, 43, who hasn’t won since 1987--sorry, the Hong Kong Open doesn’t count--and hasn’t won a major championship since the British Open in ’83. At times, his dry spell has been more painful to watch than a 24-handicapper.

But the suddenly new and improved Watson now finds himself within clear view of the only major he has never won. In fact, Watson said the PGA “is the tournament I’d like to win most.”

He added: “If I should win this week, it would probably be the most important tournament in my career.”

This is from a man who has won five British Opens, two Masters and one U.S. Open.

Watson, who has been busy preparing for next month’s Ryder Cup competition (he’s the U.S. captain), wasn’t expected to make much of an impact at Inverness. His season has been disappointing--again--and his prospects of challenging for the PGA lead weren’t considered good. Conventional wisdom called for Watson to make an appearance, struggle or even miss the cut, then spend the rest of his time picking his two wild-card selections for the Ryder Cup team.

That was before he began tinkering with his swing--something about shoulder planes--and tried out a new putter he found in his locker at last week’s Buick Open.

The putter, an Arnold Palmer model, was sent by an unknown fan. Watson lost the person’s card, but he hasn’t let the putter out of his sight after testing it Monday on the Inverness greens.

Watson’s putting woes are well documented. He has suffered from a severe case of the yips, an ailment that partly explains his tour nosedive. Sympathetic fans have since sent him detailed essays, sometimes as long as 15 pages, offering advice about his on-green problems, and putters. Lots of putters.

“You should see the lineup of putters I have,” Watson said. “I have one with two shafts and two grips on it. You hold it like a divining rod.”

Watson didn’t find water Friday, but he did find perfectly groomed fairways and soft greens. He also found a course devoid of wind.

“Very succinctly, this golf course is playing a lot easier than it ever has before,” he said.

That’s true, but Watson, by his own account, is also playing better than he has in more than a decade. With the exception of John Daly, he is driving the ball as far as anyone, hitting his irons close to the pins and, at last, making the putts.

“I think he’s a huge factor,” Wadkins said. “I think he’s playing so good, he’s scary.”

And Paul Azinger, who is seven under par for the tournament, said: “I played a practice round with (Watson) Wednesday. He told me at about the third hole that he was hitting it great, that he had figured it out--whatever it was--and after he finished out on 18, I thought, ‘Maybe he ought to pick himself.’

“After the first two rounds this week, who could blame him?”

Azinger was referring to those two coveted Ryder Cup spots, for which Watson makes the final determination. But Watson repeated his standard response Friday: He will not put himself on the team, even if he wins the PGA.

For Singh, there are no such concerns. He lives in London, but isn’t eligible for the European team. Other than maintaining his two-stroke lead, Singh wants only one other thing.

“We didn’t have TV when I was (in Fiji),” he said. “Hopefully, they have TV now so they can see me.”

Golf Notes

The cut was 143. Gone early were Corey Pavin, Bernhard Langer, Larry Mize, Mark O’Meara, Arnold Palmer, Raymond Floyd, Jim Gallagher, Bob Tway and Jack Nicklaus, among others. . . . Forty-seven of the 148 golfers were under par after two rounds. . . . Nick Faldo was eight under par until he reached No. 15, a 465-yard par-four. He made a seven, which stunned even his playing partners. “It’s almost kind of shocking to see him make a mistake,” Lanny Wadkins said. Faldo recovered slightly and was six under par for two rounds. . . . Tom Watson on Vijay Singh: “(He) can make a lot of birdies. But there are a lot of players behind him that can make birdies, too. This golf course is tame right now.”

Low Scores

Vijay Singh matched the record for the lowest 18-hole score (63) in one of golf’s major championships. The lowest scores, by event:

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

Vijay Singh (1993)

MASTERS

Nick Price (1986)

U.S. OPEN

Jack Nicklaus (1980)

Tom Weiskopf (1980)

Johnny Miller (1973)

BRITISH OPEN

Payne Stewart (1993)