Singh Still Playing Like a Winner

Vijay Singh, hot enough to win the PGA Championship, stayed hot enough Thursday to card six birdies and an eagle, giving him a share of the first-round lead in the Sprint International at Castle Rock, Colo.

Four days after winning his first major tournament, Singh scored 15 points under the modified Stableford system used in this event, tying journeyman Jim Carter--who had 11 one-putt greens, including his last eight--for the lead.

Tiger Woods, whose long game suits the format and the 7,559-yard Castle Pines Golf Club course, was at 14 points, thanks in part to two eagles. Corey Pavin, with his best round in years, was at 13, along with Davis Love III and David Sutherland.

Lightning caused a suspension of play at mid-afternoon with half the field still on the course.

Play resumed after a delay, and when darkness fell 36 players remained on the course. They were to complete their rounds today.

Singh played steadily, not missing a fairway.

“I hit a lot of good tee shots, a lot of good approach shots and putted nicely,” Singh said. “Winning a major like that, I just wanted to get back on the golf course and play again.”

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Arnold Palmer, 68, will undergo a seven-week series of radiation treatments as a follow-up to his prostate cancer surgery in 1997.

Palmer will begin daily treatments Aug. 31 at Latrobe Area Hospital, near his Pennsylvania home, Doc Giffin, his spokesman, said.

Doctors said “blood studies have indicated that there probably is some residual microscopic disease existing,” but that it “is not surprising nor out the ordinary.”

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Sweden’s Mathias Gronberg shot a four-under-par 68 to take a one-stroke lead over Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke in the opening round of the European Open in Dublin.