Singh flourishes at sunny Sawgrass as back pain eases

Published>Fri, May 07 10 07:08 AM

Soaring temperatures gave Vijay Singh reason to smile at the Players Championship on Thursday as the lingering back problems that have plagued him this season became a distant memory.

The former world number one, who has withdrawn from three of his last five PGA Tour events, moved into contention by shooting a three-under-par 69 in the opening round.

"This hot weather is doing the back a lot of good," Fijian Singh told reporters after ending a muggy day at the TPC Sawgrass three strokes off the pace. "I've had no problems for a week now. I think it's going to be okay."

Singh, in pursuit of his 35th title on the U.S. circuit, soared up the leaderboard with a sizzling four-birdie run from the par-three third where he coolly rolled in a 28-footer.

"It felt really good," the 47-year-old said. "I haven't done that for a while. It was disappointing that I didn't make birdie on the last hole, but I'll take a three under any day."

Renowned for his workaholic approach to practice, Singh said he had been forced to stay patient while being sidelined from the game for three weeks.

"When you have an injury like mine, you just cannot do anything. It's the worst kind of injury because it paralyses you all over," said the three-times major winner.

"It was back spasms so you cannot have any therapy. I just relaxed and let it rest. I had a lot of painkillers in me and muscle relaxers and that kind of thing just to release the muscles. But it's good now."

Asked what he had done to alleviate the boredom when he was unable to practise, Singh replied: "I try to walk a lot, you know. Just try to do a lot of other things besides hitting balls because you can't do it.

"You just try to make do with time and do other things. Go to the beach, look at the ocean and watch guys play golf."

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