Singh Is Lead Guy on Swing Shift

By THOMAS BONK

Feb. 6, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

PEBBLE BEACH —

Is Vijay Singh the hardest-working man in the golf business? Beats golf balls on the range until dark? Swings his clubs until he needs bandages on his hands? Yearns to win that coveted AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am?

Actually, there’s no doubt that Singh is a fixture on the driving range: He spends more time around the place than range balls. But if you were expecting Singh’s eyes to start misting over or for him to get all warm and mushy inside when faced with the prospects of winning this tournament, well, no way, says Vijay.

“I don’t mind playing this tournament,” Singh said. “After a while, you kind of get sick of the rain, but it’s just another tournament when you come here.”

Don’t you just love a sentimental guy?

However he feels about this tournament, out on the course Singh is sure acting as though he loves it. He turned in a five-under-par 67 Saturday in what can only be called confused weather at Pebble Beach and leads Notah Begay by one shot after two rounds.

Singh’s five-birdie, no-bogey round featured holing a bunker shot at No. 5 for a birdie and a near-miss five-foot birdie putt at No. 18 that spun away from the hole at the last instant.

Add it all up and Singh decided to take off for the range for a little bit more practice before he tees it up today at Spyglass Hill. He has a certain complacency about his putting, regardless of what happened at No. 18, basically because he has trimmed down his pre-shot preparation to a simple plan: Stand over the ball, pick a line and hit it.

“I’m feeling more comfortable now,” Singh said.

Regardless of who practiced Singh’s mind-set, it would have come in handy Saturday in weather that couldn’t quite decide which way to go. Sunshine, torrential rain and blustery wind took turns. Players who climbed into their foul-weather gear only to peel it off and then repeat the procedure risked muscle pulls.

That is close to what Begay was thinking during a wildly fluctuating round of eight birdies and four bogeys that added up to 68.

“With the conditions, from going from rainy to sunny, back to raining, windy, it’s just a real tough thing to concentrate and I did that very well,” Begay said.

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods didn’t do nearly as well as he would have liked. If Woods is going to win his sixth consecutive tournament, he is going to have to do it the hard way. Woods is eight shots back after his one-over 73 at Spyglass Hill.

Woods did break one streak, though. His string of 13 rounds of par or better came to an end.

It also took him a mind-numbing six hours to play the round.

Singh is also being chased by Matt Gogel, who is four shots off the lead after a 68 at Poppy Hills, and Rocco Mediate, who trails Singh by five shots after a 69 at Pebble Beach.

David Duval had been tied for the 18-hole lead with Singh and Begay but didn’t have much luck at Spyglass Hill. Duval finished with a four-over 76 and is nine shots behind Singh.

As for Woods, Begay cautioned against counting him out just yet.

“I know the guy too well,” Begay said of his former Stanford teammate. “He’s going to do any and everything he can to take it up a notch.

“Oh, he will get mad. He will come out and probably shoot 65 or something. It wouldn’t surprise me, it wouldn’t surprise anybody.”

Then there is Singh, the 36-year-old from Fiji who was a surprise winner at the 1998 PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club. Singh has won eight times in his eight-year PGA Tour career--five victories coming in the last three years when he cemented his reputation for hard work at practice.

Singh says he still grinds it out at the range, but mostly on his short game, and then not for as long as before.

“If I am comfortable with what I am doing, I leave it, unless I have some trouble I need to work out.”

LEADERS

Par 72, 36-Hole Scores

Vijay Singh 66-67--133

Notah Begay III 66-68--134

Matt Gogel 69-68--137

Rocco Mediate 69-69--138

Mark Brooks 71-67--138

OTHERS

Tom Lehman 69-70--139

Tiger Woods 68-73--141