It's a long way from the poverty of northern Borneo's rain forest to the wooded, wealthy suburbs of Westchester County, but Vijay Singh has arrived.
Of East Indian ancestry and a native of Fiji, Singh literally has golfed his way around the world and, on Sunday, captured his first tournament on the PGA Tour at age 30, beating Mark Wiebe in a playoff in the Buick Classic."Every win is a great win, and winning in the United States will give me a lot more status next year," said Singh, who has won on the European, African and Asian tours.
Singh and Wiebe both shot 5-under-par 66s, equaling the low round of the tournament, for four-round totals of 4-under 280 as Westchester Country Club's West Course yielded low scores grudgingly.
Singh won with a birdie on the third playoff hole, the 444-yard, par-4 11th, toughest hole on the course.
Despite losing, Wiebe said, "I'm tickled. I shot 75 in the second round, and I'm in a playoff. The course played like a bear all week. It's a great tuneup for the U.S. Open."
The Open begins Thursday at Baltusrol in neighboring New Jersey.
Defending champion David Frost of South Africa also shot 66 for 281, tied with Lee Janzen, the third-round co-leader who shot 1-over 72. Mike Smith and Tom Lehman were tied at 282.
Duffy Waldorf, who shared the lead at the beginning of the day with Janzen, shot 75 and finished at 284.
A self-taught golfer, Singh was virtually exiled to Borneo by the golfing world in 1985 after a scoring scandal in Europe, where he was accused of doctoring his card to avoid missing a cut.
He denied it, but eventually wound up taking a job as the pro at the Keningau Club, three hours from the nearest town at the end of a logging road on the northern tip of the island, where he taught golf for $160 a month.
Three years later, he accepted an offer to play in Africa, won the Nigerian Open, and the rest is a rather unlikely ramble through history.
His first PGA Tour victory came in only his 11th start in the United States, seven this year. He hasn't missed a cut in the States and has four top-10 finishes this year, including a second in the Nestle Invitational in March.
At Belton, Mo., Dave Stockton made a 4-foot par putt on No. 18 and won the Southwestern Bell Seniors Classic when Walt Zembriski pushed his par putt to the right moments later from almost the same spot.
Stockton had a 1-over-par 71 for the final round and a 54-hole total of 6-under 204. Zembriski, the former iron worker who never got to play the regular tour, had a 72 and 205.