Oct 31, 2004 5 min read

PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) – Vijay Singh made a 30-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole that changed everything Saturday in the Chrysler Championship. A tournament that for most of the day looked as if it was up for grabs now seems headed for a familiar conclusion. Singh recovered from two early bogeys for a 4-under 67, giving him a one-shot lead over Tommy Armour III and making a half-dozen others play their best golf to have any chance of catching the No. 1 player.

The 41-year-old Fijian has won five times in seven starts, and he has won 10 straight tournaments with at least a share of the 54-hole lead, dating to the MCI Classic three years ago. A victory Sunday on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook would be his ninth of the season and make him the first $10 million winner in golf.

All he has to do is think back one week, when Ryan Palmer shot 62 in the final round to win at Disney. That might not happen at Innisbrook, one of the strongest tests of golf in Florida.

“It’s a difficult golf course to go low,” Singh said. “I think I have to play solid golf – 2 or 3 under should do it for me, I think.”

Singh was at 12-under 201, and never had the lead to himself until his birdie on the 17th.

Armour was lucky to be only one shot back. His approach to the 18th hit the bleachers, bounced off a tree and dropped into the rough near the green. He got up-and-down for par and a 68, putting him at 11-under 202 and today’s final group with Singh.

Jesper Parnevik and Kirk Triplett each had 68 and were at 10-under 203. Another shot back were Jose Maria Olazabal (67) and Tom Carter (65), who now have a chance to keep their cards for next season.

Jeff Sluman and Jonathan Byrd, the co-leaders through 36 holes, both got off to solid starts until they crumbled on the back nine. Sluman’s slide started earlier, a triple bogey on the sixth hole, and he never quite recovered on his way to a 74 that left him five shots behind.

Byrd, who was 9 under on the back nine in the first two rounds, played his final four holes in 4 over for a 75.

Even if Singh runs away Sunday, that won’t siphon all the drama out of the final full-field event of the year.

This is the last chance for players to get into the top 30 on the money list to qualify for the Tour Championship, the top 40 to get into the Masters or the top 125 to secure their PGA Tour cards for next year. And the third round proved crucial for so many players.

Olazabal will not go to Q-school no matter what, and he is No. 146 on the money list. But he shot himself into contention at getting into the top 125 – maybe even winning.

Tim Herron shot 67 and was in a tie for seventh, leaving him a chance to sneak into the top 30.

Singh isn’t concerned with any of that. The final full tournament of the year is all about money, and the Fijian is poised to wind up with twice as much as anyone.

He started the third round only two shots out of the lead, then three-putted from 20 feet and had to save bogey from just off the green on the next hole.

“My first goal was to get back to par, and I did that immediately,” Singh said.

He made birdie on the next two holes, then slowly worked his way up the leaderboard – a 12-foot birdie on No. 7, a two-putt birdie on the 11th and a phenomenal flop shot from deep rough, over a steep bunker to about 4 feet for a birdie on the par-5 14th.

Sluman has talked about golf being easy some days and difficult the next. Saturday was a little of both.

He came within an inch of an eagle with a deft chip on the opening hole and followed that with an 8-foot birdie to quickly build a two-shot lead. But that vanished when Sluman drove left into the trees, took two shots to get back to the fairway and wound up with a triple bogey.

Then, he bounced back with consecutive birdies, a 15-footer from the fringe on No. 7 and a 25-footer on No. 8, to regain a share of the lead with Byrd and Armour. Parnevik and Singh soon joined them, and it became a mad scramble to finish the third round.

Sluman dropped out with another bogey on No. 10. Parnevik couldn’t keep pace. Armour matched Singh shot-for-shot, except for the Fijian’s birdie putt on the 17th.

That was the difference in the lead. And with Singh at the top, that could be all the difference in the world.

Divots: Jay Haas was only two shots out of the lead when he hit his tee shot toward the water on No. 16. He searched in the shaggy rough along the banks, and because there was no evidence the ball went into the pond, Haas had to declare a lost ball and return to the tee. He made double bogey, finished with a 70 and was at 207. The 50-year-old Haas is No. 29 on the money list and trying to secure his spot in the Tour Championship. … Jonathan Kaye is 32nd on the money list and things were looking good when he opened with a 64. But he followed that with a 74, then crashed on Saturday with an 82. He now has the third-lowest and third-highest score by a PGA Tour player at Innisbrook.