It was a moment of high drama when Vijay Singh beat Tiger Woods to emerge as the No. 1 world player this week. For Vijay Singh, who displayed his winning streak after grabbing the Money Title from Tiger Woods last season but couldn't break Wood's record of holding the Player of the Year title for the fifth year in a row, it was a momentous turn of events. This year, while Tiger continued to struggle with his swing, Vijay was quietly making his moves. Ernie Els, time and again, was very close to winning the Majors but did not quite make it.
The South African finished in top 10s of all the four Majors. In between, Els took over the No. 2 spot but Vijay seemed to be biding his time.
Though Vijay won often enough "" the Deutsche Bank Championship last week was his sixth win of the season "" he was not doing the same trick at the Majors.
When the first three Majors did not yield any pickings in the form of a title, he made a slight deviation from his routine of practice and decided to take time off to prepare for the PGA Championships, the last Major of the year.
It paid off. He won the third Major of his career and went into the hunt for the No. 1 spot. With Tiger playing below his usual level, Vijay moved into top gear . And in a dramatic fashion, he saw himself being matched up with Tiger on the final day of the Deutsche Bank Championship.
As the packed galleries realised they were about to witness history, Vijay raised his game like only he can under pressure.
The 41-year-old Fijian, who learnt his early golf in Malaysia before moving to the US, shot a closing two-under 69 for a 16-under total of 268 and a three-shot win over Woods, who was pushed to second in the tournament and world rankings.
For five years and one month, or 264 weeks to be precise, Woods remained unchallenged until he was nudged off that perch by his challenger "" Vijay Singh.
According to the computer rankings in performance over the past two years, taking the strength of field into account, Woods held a 12.09-11.91 lead in the Deutsche Bank Championship. The new numbers released that night confirmed Vijay Singh as the first player other than Woods to hold the No.1 ranking since 8 August, 1999.
There was a time when Vijay was banned from Malaysian golf for allegedly signing a wrong card and for not reporting. Those were the days when he was struggling to make the cut to get to the next tournament.
But even then, he dreamt big. Vijay, who once earned the ire of Woods' fans when his caddie turned up wearing a hat that said 'Tiger, Who?', has done what Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson had shown was possible "" to beat Tiger Woods.
At the end of 2003, despite being the winner on the Money List, Vijay was edged out by Woods in the poll for Player of the Year award. But then the Fijian has been focused and said that his objective was to get to the the No. 1 spot and he played stunningly to achieve that.
With six titles, including one Major and a No. 1 ranking, the season 2004 could well see Vijay Singh halt the Woods streak of five Player of the Year awards.
With a win that fetched him $ 900,000, Vijay's earnings for the year have already totalled $8 million. And the chances of Vijay cracking the $10-million mark for a single year are a distinct possibility. He has now won 10 titles in the last 20 months and is surely worthy of the title he wears as World No. 1.
On the final day at Deutsche Bank Championship, Woods, who was second at the Buick Championships a week earlier, made a charge like only he can.
Woods, three shots back at the start of the final day, ate into Singh's lead on the first nine and finally caught the Fijian at the 13th after Woods stunned everyone with a spectacular chip-in birdie from the rough at the 12th which had reduced his lead to just one stroke.
Singh, who still hits 1,000 balls in strenuous practice sessions, did not panic. He picked up three birdies of his own over the closing holes and was then helped by a Woods bogey at the 14th. By the end, Vijay was once again ahead by three.
The patient Vijay later said, "My focus was really winning the golf tournament, not going to No. 1 "" and I didn't get out of focus. I was very patient "" and that was the key. But now that I've done it, it's great and I can't wait to celebrate."
Singh who returned to the range the very next day to put in some more practice, has attributed his recent results to "putting a lot better" and hitting the ball long and straight off the tee.
If the golfing world thought that Woods would be a broken man after losing his No. 1 spot, they were wrong. Smiling and talking philosophically, he said, "I've had a good run and it (being number two) isn't too bad, is it?"
"And you know what, I am really excited at the kind of golf I have started to play again" he added. This could be a warning for Vijay Singh.
Woods had climbed to the No. 1 spot, with a one-shot victory in the 1999 US PGA Championships, as the previous contender, David Duval, finished tied 13th. Duval, the 2001 US Open champion, has since slipped to hundreds in rankings.
Now that he is No. 1, the world will be watching how long he can hold onto the throne. After all, Woods held that position for 264 weeks.
