BETHESDA, Maryland — Vijaysin began thinking about what he’ll do over the weekend after bogging his first three holes at the Senior PGA Championship on Friday.
“Your heart will just become a heywire,” he said. “But I played long enough to know there’s a lot of golf out there.”
Then he showed it.
After missing the Masters and PGA championships this spring due to a private injury, Singh looked perfectly healthy with seven birdies to surge to the top of the Congressional Country Club leaderboard for the rest of the second round. The former top-ranked player who filmed a 4-under 68 took the lead with Ye-Yang (68) and Cameron Percy (71) at 6 midway through the PGA Tour Championships Major.
“I’ve been driving the ball well,” Singh said. “I hanged there and started making some birdies here and there and picked up shots. The back nine played solid golf.”
The 62-year-old from Fiji is hoping to win his first career on a course outside of Maryland, just outside Washington. He tied up that time on the 77th and missed the cut at his final event at the 2014 Congressional Tiger Woods tournament.
“I’ve always loved playing here,” Shin said. “It’s a completely different golf course, a whole new golf course. The greens are very challenging, to say the least.”
Singh, who spent 32 weeks rankings about 20 years ago and known for his strict practice habits, cut some of his routines in half.
“If you get into range and hit, you’d go out there and hit a good shot of 5 or 6 before. They say, ‘OK, let’s see if we can do these 20’,” Singh said. “But now, if I hit two or three good shots, I say, ‘I was enough, that’s it.” ”
Yang birded four of his last five holes on Friday.
As things changed throughout his round, Percy kept searching for a large American flag, always seeing how windy it was and realising that he grew up in Melbourne, Australia.
“I think the wind will definitely help me,” Percy said. “You’re down on the wooden line, you can’t feel the wind, you walk 200 yards and it’s blowing like crazy.”
Padraig Harrington headlined a busy group two-stroke with 4 under. Stuart Sink, Justin Leonard and defending champion Richard Brando were under the age of three.
Ernie Elles followed the opening of 69, dropping evenly at 75. He won the 1997 US Open in Congress.