In-form Vijay huge Amex loss
The plight of his family caught up in Hurricane Jeanne caused Singh to pull out, leaving the door open for Woods to kickstart his stated ambition of regaining the number one spot sooner rather than later.
Woods could hardly have a better tournament than the Amex and the magnificent Co Kilkenny venue in which to do so.
He first captured the title in 1999 and made it three out of five when shooting an astonishing 25 under par at Mount Juliet in 2002 before winning the event for a third time in Atlanta last September.
At that point, Tiger's grip on the number one world spot looked unassailable but that distinction has passed to the remarkable 41-year-old Fijian, who has not just supplanted Woods as the world number one, but seems capable of winning any tournament he enters.
Singh's latest triumph in the 84 Lumber Classic in Philadelphia meant that even if Woods won this week with Vijay out of the reckoning, he still couldn't regain the number one ranking. Singh has moved two full points clear and cannot be dislodged.
Singh would have been seeking his fourth successive tournament win in Co Kilkenny and his ninth of the season. Sunday's victory pushed his money total for the year to $9,455,566 in 26 events, surpassing Tiger's $9,188,321 while he was winning nine times from 20 appearances in 2000.
He could still become the first to bank $10m in one year, although missing out on a potential $1.2m this week doesn't enhance his prospects.
Not exactly given to hyperbole, Vijay simply commented, "I will try" when this possibility was raised on Sunday evening.
"I want to win, I want to play well and it's a good habit to get into," he said with a considerable degree of understatement.
"I had my driver working, my irons working and I made the putts I needed to make."
Even so, the Fijian gave himself a few unnecessary worries at the final hole where it was just as well he enjoyed a two stroke advantage over his nearest rival Stewart Cink.
He knocked his approach into thick grass surrounding a pot bunker, played a conservative recovery and took his two putts for victory.
He led from start to finish for his fifth victory in six tournaments, the best streak since Woods claimed six in a row to end 1999 and start 2000.
Singh has won seven times in his last 16 events.
Pat Perez, Chris DiMarco and Zach Johnson came in two shots behind Cink.
DiMarco ruefully shook his head and admitted, "it's ridiculous the way Vijay is playing right now".
It is interesting to note that at 7,112 yards, the Jack Nicklaus-designed Mount Juliet course might well have been a little on the short side for the Fijian giant.
He seems to reserve his best performances for "monster" lay-outs.
Of the eight longest courses on the US Tour, he has won on four including the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits and at the weekend when the Mystic Rock lay-out was lengthened by about 400 yards to 7,471 yards.
Surprisingly, he is only 145th in driving accuracy, despite being 11th in length. But he is best in greens in regulation and that is obviously the secret to his success.
Never a winner in the States until he was 30, he now has 23 career successes, including 12 since last year.
Sunday's was his 45th worldwide, starting 20 years ago with the Malaysian PGA Championship.
Of all the statistics on the graphic to the right comparing the 2000 season of Woods with Singh's current campaign, the driving accuracy category is probably the most fascinating.
Vijay, as we have seen, is a lowly 145th, Woods was 54th.
Perhaps this gives an indication that the rough on American courses isn't at all as tough as we are often led to believe and that US Tour players aren't as accurate from the tee as they should be.
A genuine fear stalked the European party and supporters in the build-up to the Ryder Cup that Oakland Hills, which had been set up by the US captain Hal Sutton to suit his team and was very much in the mode of a US Open-PGA style, would militate against Bernhard Langer's men.
But there was no sign whatsoever of that and indeed the Americans were at least as wayward off the tee and with their approach shots.
Furthermore, international players have captured 22 of the season's 41 tournaments on the US Tour.
The withdrawal of not alone Singh but also of Masters champion Phil Mickelson, his Augusta predecessor, and the always entertaining John Daly has certainly hit the Amex tournament like a blow to the solar plexus.
The good news, however, is that 44 of the top 50 in the world will still be in action.
Woods is likely to be the favourite when the action begins on the 1st and 10th tees at 11.30am on Thursday morning but he can expect really stiff opposition from the South Africans Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, respectively third and sixth in the rankings, and fellow Americans Davis Love III and Stewart Cink, who are also within the top ten.
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