Vijay Singh (Fiji Hindi: विजय सिंह, pronounced [ˈʋɪdʒəj sɪ̃ɦ]; born 22 February 1963) is a Fijian professional golfer. In 1982, Singh turned professional and played on the local Asia Golf Circuit. However, his early career met with controversy, as he was accused of numerous rules violations, and he was banned from the AGC. Singh turned to Africa and Europe where he had much success on the respective tours, the Safari Circuit and European Tour, winning several times on each. In 1993, he won the PGA Tour's Buick Classic, earning him tour membership and ultimately Rookie of the Years honours. In 1998, he won his first major championship, the PGA Championship, and two years later the Masters. In 2004, Singh had one of the best seasons in the history of golf, winning nine times including the PGA Championship, overtaking Tiger Woods as the #1 golfer in the world.
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Early life
An Indo-Fijian practising Hinduism, Singh was born in Lautoka, Fiji and grew up in Nadi. He is the son of Mohan Singh, an airplane technician who also taught golf. Singh has a brother named Krishna who is also a professional golfer.
Singh recollected to reporters about his childhood: "When we were kids we couldn't afford golf balls so we had to make do with coconuts. My father used to say, 'Little Vijay, golf balls don't fall off trees you know,' so I found some that did!" Growing up, he played snooker, cricket, football, and the country's most popular sport, rugby. Growing up, he admired the swing of Tom Weiskopf, using it as an early model for his own.
Professional career
Asia Golf Circuit
Singh turned professional in 1982. Two years later, he won the 1984 Malaysian PGA Championship. However, his career was plunged into crisis after he was suspended from the Asia Golf Circuit in 1985 over allegations he doctored his scorecard. It was alleged that he lowered his score from one over to one under in order to make the cut, but Singh denies this, saying that in any case, it should only have resulted in disqualification from the event rather than a ban. After investigation by the Tour of this and other alleged violations proved true, John Bender, Asian PGA Tour president, issued Singh a lifetime ban on Asian PGA Tour play.
Singh felt he had been more harshly treated because the marker was "the son of a VIP in the Indonesian PGA." He then took a job at the Keningau Club in Sabah, Malaysia, before his move to the Miri Golf Club in Sarawak. While this was a period of hardship for him, he continued to gain experience.
European Tour
Singh saved the money he needed to resurrect his career and began to re-enter tournaments. In 1988 he teamed up with a sponsor, Red Baron, which funded a trip to Africa to compete on the now-defunct Safari Circuit, an offshoot circuit of the European Tour. Singh captured his first event, the 1988 Nigerian Open, as locals cheered him loudly. At the end of that year he entered the European Tour Qualifying school for the second consecutive year, and was successful on this occasion.
In 1989, Singh won his first European Tour title at the Volvo Open Championship in Italy and finished 24th on the European Tour Order of Merit, putting his early struggles firmly behind him. He won four times in 1989, at the Volvo Open di Firenze, Ivory Coast Open, Nigerian Open and Zimbabwe Open. He also finished tied for 23rd at The Open Championship. He won on the European Tour again in 1990 and did so twice in 1992. He also won several tournaments in Asia and Africa in this period.
PGA Tour
Singh earned membership on the PGA Tour in 1993 by winning the Buick Classic in a playoff over Mark Wiebe. That victory led to his being named the 1993 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. After being hampered with back and neck problems in 1994, he came back to win the Buick Classic again in 1995 as well as the Phoenix Open. After playing well in 1996 (but with no victories), he won both the Memorial Tournament and the Buick Open in 1997.
In 1998, Singh was victorious at the PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington, playing a 70-66-67-68 over the four days (the 66 tied a course record) and earning him his first Major title. He followed this up by winning The Masters in 2000, with a three-stroke victory over Ernie Els.
Singh did not win on the PGA Tour in 2001, but finished the year with a Tour-best 14 top-10 finishes and was fourth on the money list with $3,440,829 for the year. In 2002, he won at the Shell Houston Open at TPC at The Woodlands, setting a new tournament 72-hole scoring record with a 266, and at the Tour Championship, winning by two strokes over Charles Howell III.
2003 proved to be a very successful year for Singh. He won four tournaments, had 18 top-10 finishes and was the PGA Tour's money leader (and had the second-highest single-season total in PGA Tour history) with $7,573,907, beating Tiger Woods by $900,494, though Singh played 27 tournaments compared to Woods' 18 tournaments. Singh also tied a 9-hole scoring record at the U.S. Open with a 29 on the back nine of his second round. His victories came at the Phoenix Open, the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, the John Deere Classic and the FUNAI Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort. He narrowly lost the vote for the PGA of America's Player of the Year to Tiger Woods.
However, the 2003 season was also spotted with controversy involving Singh surrounding the year's event at the Bank of America Colonial. LPGA star Annika Sörenstam became the first woman to play at a PGA Tour event since Babe Zaharias at the 1945 Los Angeles Open. Surrounding this fervor, Singh was misquoted as having said that Sörenstam "didn't belong" on the men's tour and that he would not play if he were paired with her. What he actually said is that he would not be paired with her because his playing partner was being selected from the past champion's pool. Singh later clarified, "There are guys out there trying to make a living. It's not a ladies' tour. If she wants to play, she should—or any other woman for that matter—if they want to play the man's tour, they should qualify and play like everybody else."
PGA Tour Champions
Singh played his first PGA Tour Champions event in 2013, finishing T6 at the Pacific Links Hawai'i Championship. During this era, he still played some PGA Tour events, finishing second at the Quicken Loans National, three strokes behind winner Billy Hurley III.
In 2017, Singh won his first senior event, the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf with Carlos Franco. In March 2018, Singh won the Toshiba Classic. Four months later, in July, Singh won one of the PGA Tour Champions' major tournaments, the Constellation Senior Players Championship in a playoff over Jeff Maggert. At the end of the season, in November, Singh won the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix, Arizona. The victory was worth $440,000. By winning the tournament, he also finished fourth in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup, winning an additional $200,000.
In March 2019, Singh shot his way into the final group of the final round of the Honda Classic. Singh shot even-par to finish sixth, three strokes behind winner Keith Mitchell.
In 2026, Singh returned to the PGA Tour using a one-time exemption for those in the top-50 in career earnings. Singh, whose career earnings are over $71 million, is eligible for most full-field events and the Masters as a former winner.
Personal life
Singh has been married to Ardena Seth since 1985 and they have one child together.
A resident of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, he is known for his preparation, often arriving hours before, and staying long after his tournament rounds to work on his game on the driving range.
Media relations
Controversy surrounded Singh in 2003 before the Bank of America Colonial. Annika Sörenstam was scheduled to play the event, and Singh was quoted as saying, "I hope she misses the cut ... because she doesn't belong out here." He later said that the substance of his interview to an Associated Press reporter was that she would be displacing some other struggling male player, for whom he had his sympathies. However, the media focused on this statement. Golf Digest wrote that Singh had become "pro golf's bad guy."
After Singh's win at the Masters, Ernie Els took issue with some of the negative press his friend received. He wrote an article in Sports Illustrated to defend him, saying, "Golf should be proud of Vijay Singh." Later Els said of Singh "He's a wonderful guy. I've known him for the better part of 10 years now. He's a great competitor. I think people have a misconception of Vijay. He's a really good guy."
In May 2005, Singh was appointed a goodwill ambassador for Fiji. He said that he did not expect anything in return from the Fijian government for representing his country. At a press conference on 18 May 2005, Singh commented on what he said was a deterioration in race relations in Fiji, saying that for such a small country, people of all races should live together, put their differences aside, and get on with life. Relations between Indo-Fijians and indigenous Fijians had been more harmonious when he was younger, he said.
Awards and honors
In 1993, Singh won the PGA Tour's Rookie of the Year honors.
In 2003, 2004, and 2008 he finished atop the PGA Tour's money list.
In 2004, Singh was voted by his colleagues to be PGA Tour Player of the Year.
In 2004, he also earned PGA Player of the Year honors, based on a points-based system, from the PGA of America.
In 2004, Singh also earned the PGA Tour's Byron Nelson Award and the PGA of America's Vardon Trophy. The honors respectively go the player with the lowest adjusted scoring average over the course of the year and the overall leader in scoring average, non-adjusted.
In 2004, Singh was European Tour Golfer of the Year, dispensed by the golf media figures in Europe.
In 2006, Singh was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame.
In 2008, he won the season-long FedEx Cup.
Professional wins (66)
PGA Tour wins (34)
PGA Tour playoff record (8–4)
European Tour wins (13)
1Co-sanctioned by the Southern Africa Tour
2Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour
European Tour playoff record (2–0)
Asian Tour wins (5)
1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
2Co-sanctioned by the Korean Tour
Asian Tour playoff record (2–0)
Southern Africa Tour wins (2)
1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
Other wins (8)
Other playoff record (1–2)
PGA Tour Champions wins (5)
PGA Tour Champions playoff record (1–0)
Major championships
Wins (3)
1Defeated Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco in three-hole playoff: Singh (3-3-4=10), Leonard (4-3-x=x), and DiMarco (4-3-x=x)
Results timeline
Results not in chronological order in 2020.
CUT = missed the half way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
Most consecutive cuts made – 15 (2002 PGA – 2006 U.S. Open)
Longest streak of top-10s – 7 (2004 PGA – 2006 U.S. Open)
Results in The Players Championship
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
World Golf Championships
Results timeline
1Cancelled due to 9/11
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.
Senior major championships
Results timeline
Results not in chronological order
CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
PGA Tour career summary
*As of the 2020 season.
There is a summary of Singh's European Tour career here.
Team appearances
Amateur
Eisenhower Trophy (representing Fiji): 1980
Professional
Presidents Cup (International Team): 1994, 1996, 1998 (winners), 2000, 2003 (tie), 2005, 2007, 2009
World Cup (representing Fiji): 2001, 2002, 2013
Alfred Dunhill Challenge (representing Australasia): 1995