Singh back on song

Vijay Singh stands on the verge of finally winning the Mercedes-Benz Championship, PGA Tour’s season opener, after a number of near misses.

The 43-year-old was steady rather than spectacular in carding a three-under-par 70 on another extremely windy day in the third round.

That lifted him to an 11-under 208 total, three shots clear of Adam Scott (69) and Trevor Immelman (72) at Maui’s Kapalua Plantation course.

Singh has posted top-10 finishes in his past seven starts in the tournament and he knows just about every nuance of the course built on the side of a mountain.

He was not at the very peak of his game in the tough conditions but avoided making a bogey after the seventh hole, picking up five birdies in all as he putted well with his new mid-length belly putter.

“It was a little disappointing,” he said.

“The scoring was good but the ball-striking wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. It was wishy-washy, but putting is a great equaliser. I made a lot of three, four, five-footers.

“[Course knowledge] helped today. I just scrambled a lot. I knew where the grain was on the green. You remember the breaks, how quick they are and that’s all helpful at the end of the day.”

Singh, however, was not getting carried away.

“I’m going to go out there and try to play the best I can and if my best is good enough, that’s good for me,” he said.

“I cannot help whatever the other guys do. I cannot go out there and wish they would play bad.”

If Singh was not quite firing on all cylinders, Immelman’s long game was superb, but a couple of early three putts seemed to sap his confidence on the greens.

“I felt like I hit the ball solidly, so that was pleasing,” said the Rookie of the Year.

“Most of my shots I hit on the wrong side of the pin and I couldn’t have too much of an aggressive putt at it.

“It was frustrating on the greens. Obviously the two three putts early didn’t help me. But all in all, I hung in there. I’ll need a special day to catch Vijay.”

Scott charged into contention with five birdies in his final seven holes, a welcome turnaround after a frustrating front nine.

“It was frustrating early because it felt like all my good shots came up a yard short or ended up in a bunker just off the green, but not too much damage was done and then I just got hot coming in,” said the world number four.

The Australian will play alongside Singh on day four, a rematch of the final round at the Tour Championship in November when Scott prevailed – but this time he gives his rival a significant headstart.

“It would be a great way to start the year (with another win) but I’m going to need a really low score,” he added.

Fellow Australian Stuart Appleby’s quest to become the fourth player in US Tour history to win the same event four successive years all-but ended when he shot 72 to slip nine shots behind Singh.