Top money earner Vijay could spoil Tiger’s ‘penta’

Woods, bidding to clinch the award for an unprecedented fifth consecutive year, won five titles on the 2003 PGA Tour while 40-year-old Singh, the game’s hottest player since September, ended the season atop the US money list.

Woods, bidding to receive the Jack Nicklaus Trophy for the fifth year in a row and sixth in all, won five titles on the 2003 PGA Tour — more than anyone else.

Although he failed to win a major championship this season for the first time since 1998, he clinched the Vardon Trophy for the fifth consecutive year with an adjusted stroke average of 68.41, the most accurate barometer of a player’s consistency.

Fijian Singh, however, has been in the form of his life over the past four months or so and most of his peers would agree he is the game’s best player of the moment.

The tall Fijian produced top-six finishes in his last eight PGA Tour starts, including two wins, before ending Woods’s four-year reign as the tour’s leading money-winner with earnings of $7,573,907.

‘‘I don’t think I’ve had this kind of performance ever’’, Singh said of his golden run. ‘‘It’s been going on for a long time — I just hope I don’t wake up from this dream.’’

But whether it is world number one Woods or second-ranked Singh who secures final approval by PGA Tour members on Monday, there is a good case to be made for any of six players during the year under review:

• Canada’s Mike Weir upstaged former world number two Phil Mickelson by becoming the first left-hander to win a major in 40 years at this year’s US Masters

• Davis Love III, although emotionally affected by the suicide of his brother-in-law in May, produced sparkling golf for much of 2003, ending up with four wins, plus 10 other top-15 finishes

• Journeyman Kenny Perry provided the ‘feel-good’ story of the year, winning back-to-back titles at the Colonial and Memorial tournaments before winning the Greater Milwaukee Open two weeks later

• Ernie Els was one of the game’s standout figures with seven victories worldwide during the year.(Reuters)