Vijay Singh Practices Hard. So What?

Congrats to Vijay Singh for shooting a 6-under 65 on Sunday to win the Chrysler Championship. It's his 9th win of 2004 and the $900,000 1st-prize made him the first in PGA Tour history to pass the $10 million mark in one season. Yes, he's playing great, but if I hear another golf commentator say that Vijay's the hardest worker in golf, I'll wrap my Cleveland lob wedge around his neck (or at least force them to read my golf blog).

Vijay may work harder than any other PGA pro, but so what? It's not like the guy is digging trenches for a living. He's playing golf. I think that if it were somehow guaranteed that you would play golf as well Vijay if you simply practiced as much as him, most golfers would jump at the opportunity. I know, sure as hell, that I would. Who wouldn't?

However, Vijay has never been a golfer that I've really liked. It's probably because I can never forget about his cheating and deadbeat past. It's funny how nobody ever mentions that Vijay was suspended indefinitely by the Southeast Asia Golf Federation for attempting to alter his scorecard at the Indonesian Open in 1985 in Jakarta. Also, does anyone remember Vijay being banned from playing the PGA tour in Australia because he failed to pay off his debts?

When you get banned from one professional golf tour, it can be filed away as a misunderstanding. But to get banned from two, that's almost criminal. If Vijay weren't playing such god-like golf, I wonder how long it would take for him to get bounced from the PGA Tour.

It's funny how attaining sports stardom can make heroes out of some of the biggest jerks.