Silver Lining for Woods in Another Major Loss

Tiger Woods opened with a 66, made it look easy and then spent the next three rounds making it look really difficult. Woods wound up winless in majors this year by finishing tied for 10th in the PGA after closing with a one-over 71.

“I didn’t win one, but last year I won one and played miserably the rest of the year,” he said. “This year, I have three top 10s. That’s not too shabby.”

Woods tied for eighth at the Masters, tied for 18th at the U.S. Open and was third at the British Open.

*

Nick Price said it’s hardly a shock to him that Vijay Singh won a major.

“He is such a talented player and it’s not going to surprise anybody,” Price said. “I’ve never seen anybody work as hard as that man does. A couple of weeks ago, I said to my caddie, ‘I’m going to stay on the practice tee longer than Vijay today.’ I was there for five hours. I couldn’t do it. I mean that guy has torn up practice tees. I wonder how much earth he’s moved over the years.”

*

Steve Stricker said the fact that his wife, Nicki, is expecting their first child in two weeks actually relaxed him Sunday. But Stricker later broke down when asked about Nicki. “No more questions about Nicki,” he said. “Talking about her makes me cry.”

Nicki was her husband’s caddie until she became pregnant.

Vijay Singh’s victory gave Fiji one of its greatest moments in international sports--even though the local population of 800,000 had almost no way to witness it.

There was no television coverage of the event in Fiji and the sport’s leading local official heard the final stages of Singh’s victory by telephone from the U.S.

Sir Timoci Tuivaga, president of the Fiji Golf Club and the country’s Chief Justice, was called by a friend, Mahendra Singh--no relation to Vijay--who was watching in the United States. Mahendra held the telephone to the television so Sir Timoci could hear the commentary and winner’s interview.

*

The Associated Press contributed to this story.