Singh tames monster

VIJAY SINGH, the 2000 champion and world number two, yesterday demonstrated that the newly revamped Augusta National golf course need not be the kind of monster that many had predicted.

The 41-year-old Fijian performed what many believed to be the impossible by keeping a bogey off his card in shooting a five under par 67.

The unrated Rocco Mediate, 43, and up-and-coming Arron Oberholser also showed it can be done by going below 70.

It was a difficult day for the majority of the field with disaster lurking around every corner. For Ireland's Paul McGinley, it struck almost before he had the sleep out of his eyes, as he took a double bogey six at the first.

Padraig Harrington ran up a seven at the long second, where he played a couple of shots that had nothing to do with the difficulty of the course and would have brought blushes to the face of many a Pierce Purcell Shield golfer.

Generally speaking, the course had the better of its battle with the game's elite. McGinley is predicting that the winning total will be in "the low single figures under par" and the cut mark this evening could be as high as five or six over par.

Holes like the 240-yard par three fourth and the 505-yard 11th took a severe toll and with the likelihood of further sunshine and a lot more wind to come, the likelihood is that the course will play fast over the weekend. The certainty is that there will be a lot of horror stories to be reported.

However, Singh is unlikely to be central to too many of them and wouldn't allow himself to be impressed - even by the only birdie of the day at the 11th.

"I had a difficult shot there and I was lucky," he admitted. "I was coming from the rough and you don't really go for the flag from that spot but when I looked up the ball was going straight at it and finished 10 feet away. A birdie there is nice. It wasn't that hard for me to shoot 67, although it was one of my best rounds here. The conditions are perfect but maybe I shouldn't say that or they'll make the course even longer next year.

"At the TPC, I saw a lot of things wrong with my golf swing. I worked really hard on it last week and it's coming, I guess."

That Singh should be leading the way came as little surprise to Tiger Woods, who maintained his record of never breaking 70 in the first round of the Masters.

"Vijay is one of the best players in the world and a former winner who knows how to play this golf course," said Woods. This time, he himself needed to knock in a 35 footer for birdie on the 18th to match the par of 72.

It was an extraordinary round by the four times winner and defending champion, as it contained an eagle two at the 14th followed by a double bogey at the next. Make no mistake, though, Woods is still in the picture and hasn't allowed the health of his gravely ill father Earl to come between him and his burning ambition of departing Augusta with a fifth green jacket.

"No, I didn't contact him before going out because I had other things on my mind," he said. "I hit a bunch of good shots today, although I didn't get a whole lot out of my day. I got a mud ball at the 10th and three putted twice and apart from 17, I drove the ball well throughout. At the 14th, I had a perfect eight iron from 163 yards and it landed soft and somehow found the bottom of the hole. I caught a divot at the 15th and I couldn't get on the golf ball. I even thought of putting it in the grandstand but I went for the hole and fatted it.

"At the beginning of the day I thought, maybe, there would be two rounds under 70 because it's so hard out there. There have been three so I wasn't far out. The wind was swirling enough to make it difficult but it was helping me at four and I was able to get there with a three iron. It was quick and dry, much like a US Open, and the greens are picking up speed.

"Experience shows us how to play here and that's why Ben Crenshaw, one of the greatest putters who ever lived, is under par. The course is what it is and we all have to play it. For the first time in years, it's playing fast. The wind is supposed to blow 20 miles per hour tomorrow and that should make it very interesting."

The European challenge hasn't materialised as yet with England's David Howell nicely placed after a 71 and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez joining Woods on 72.

However, it promises to be an uphill battle for Jose-Maria Olazabal, who could do no better than 76, while Ryder Cup certainty Henrik Stenson of Sweden discovered just how trying life can be for Augusta debutants when he could do no better than 77.

And you had to admire the 70-year-old Gary Player for shooting 79. He became the first man to birdie the extended first hole after using a five wood for his second shot.