It’s Singh in the Rain

The most important equipment in Vijay Singh’s bag at the Masters wasn’t anything he could swing, putt, wear, peel or smear. It was the nine towels his caddie crammed in there on a rainy Friday at soggy, slippery Augusta National.

Singh says he and the rain don’t mix, but they were a fairly dominant combination in the second round as his seven-under-par 65 moved him into a four-shot lead in the clubhouse when play was suspended because of rain with the second round incomplete. The sky was the color of well-done Porterhouse steak for most of the day, but Singh managed to finish his round before play was halted at 4:55 p.m., when it began raining hard enough to flood most of the greens on the back nine.

Play was canceled about an hour later. Maybe it’s something we need to get used to because playing the weather game doesn’t look like such a great idea right now. Rain, possibly lots of it, is in the forecast through next Thursday. Weather permitting, the second round will be completed this morning, then the cut will be made and the third round will start.

Defending champion Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer, playing his final Masters round, were among 38 players who could not complete their rounds.

The cut was projected at three over.

Singh played the last 11 holes in seven under, shot 30 on the back, eagled the 15th and birdied the 17th and 18th coming in, leaving him at nine-under 135, four shots ahead of Sergio Garcia, Angel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington. Those three, all at five-under 139, were the closest to Singh among players who completed their rounds. Retief Goosen was at six under through 11 holes when play was halted.

All of which probably explained Singh’s sunny disposition afterward.

“I hit the ball really good, really solid all day, and putted nicely,” he said. “So that’s why the score shows.”

Please don’t call him a wet-weather player, said Singh, who won the 2000 Masters in trying conditions.

“It wasn’t wet, though, it was cold,” he said.

Harrington, who shot 70, had five birdies, three of them at some of the more difficult holes, the first, ninth and 14th. He just wishes he knew how he did it.

“That’s golf,” he said finally. “I didn’t particularly choose to play those holes better than the other ones. I don’t have any special tactic for playing the difficult holes.”

Fair enough, because there are certainly plenty of them out there.

For Tom Watson, it was the 12th, where he made a quadruple-bogey seven, twice hitting eight-iron shots into Rae’s Creek.

Said Watson: “Have you seen the movie ‘Alien’ where the thing comes out of your chest? Well, that’s what it feels like on No. 12 when that happens.”

For Bernhard Langer, it was once again the 15th, which he double bogeyed for the second day in a row.

For Nick Price, it was just about every hole, especially the last three, which he bogeyed in soggy conditions. He was very much like everyone else who had early start times and had to play in the rain, only more vocal.

“We shouldn’t have played, pure and simple,” he said. “I had mud on my ball on eight of 13 holes. It’s kind of backfiring on everybody. Look at the leaderboard.”

Only three players shot in the 60s: Singh, Rocco Mediate with a 68 and Thomas Bjorn, who birdied the first five holes and came out of nowhere with a 67.

That’s about it for the bright side. Brad Faxon, who had a 75, was about as happy as Price, which was not happy at all.

“It was borderline laughable on the first three holes,” he said. “You couldn’t take a drop. Everybody hit shots out of casual water because there was no place to [drop]. It was a little sloppy.”

Tom Kite had a different description: “It was miserable.”

To be sure, misery had a great deal of company.

Davis Love III, who led after the first round with a 67, missed three birdie putts inside five feet early in his round Friday and then collapsed, finishing with a 75.

As for Woods, he played 10 holes in one under and was at three under for the tournament.

He started with six straight pars. He had one birdie, on the par-four seventh, where he sank an eight-foot putt. Woods, playing conservatively, didn’t birdie either of the front-nine par fives, even though he had good drives at No. 2 and No. 8. His three-wood missed the green on both holes.

He lipped out a long birdie attempt at the par-four ninth and made the turn at one-under 35. He left a 12-foot birdie putt inches short at the par-four 10th when play was suspended.

By that time, Singh was still replaying his day in his mind. After playing 36 holes, he has no doubt that the changes to Augusta National have made it a haven for heavy hitters.

“It’s a long golf course now,” he said. “Most of the holes that have been lengthened are playing a lot longer than they seem. It’s all uphill. And you add five yards to an uphill hole, you play it like 10 yards longer. It plays a lot longer for the shorter hitters.”

Garcia, hardly a short hitter, was all over the place on the back with three bogeys and three birdies, but he finished with a birdie at the 18th. His five-iron second shot from 185 yards stopped about 16 feet past the hole and he made the putt.

“I struggled a little and I was able to keep it together,” he said. “So, it’s a nice finish.”

Finishing is a feeling that nearly half of the 87 players in the field did not experience. Gary Player, who was in the last group with Charles Howell III and Jose Coceres, had played only nine holes when play came to a muddy, rainy, watery conclusion.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Leaderboard

Second round--shortened by rain

38 of 87 did not finish round

Length: 7,270 yards; Par: 72

*--* LEADERS

*--*

*--* Vijay Singh 70-65--135 -9 Angel Cabrera 68-71--139 -5 Padraig Harrington 69-70--139 -5 Sergio Garcia 68-71--139 -5 Thomas Bjorn 74-67--141 -3 Phil Mickelson 69-72--141 -3 Miguel A. Jimenez 70-71--141 -3 Davis Love III 67-75--142 -2

*--*