The Masters: Ranking the 25 most exceptional performances at Augusta
By Bill Felber
22: Vijay Singh, 2000 Masters; 278 (-10), Std. Deviation -2.36
At a time when Tiger Woods wasn’t yet the prohibitive favorite to win every tournament he played, Vijay Singh took command on Saturday and cruised to a three-stroke victory. It was Singh’s second major championship.
Singh’s opening 72 went virtually without notice. Journeyman Dennis Paulson took the lead with a 68, but the big headlines defaulted to Woods’ 75, which left him in danger of missing the cut. Tiger came back Friday with a 72 to survive to the weekend, but David Duval made the big move with a 65 that left him a stroke in front of Singh and two others.
Singh took command Saturday afternoon, his 74 passing Duval by three strokes with Ernie Els and Loren Roberts another shot back. On Sunday Duval moved within a stroke of Singh on the front nine. The 13th hole was the turning point. Duval bogeyed and Singh birdied, opening Singh’s lead to three and it held up with Els moving a shot ahead of Duval into second.
Woods rallied with weekend rounds of 68-69 to finish fifth, but was never in contention. It was the last time that would be said for more than a year; Woods would win the next four majors.