Singh keen on Grand Slam title

Vijay Singh narrowly failed in his bid to win 10 PGA Tour titles this year, but has a golden opportunity to clinch a final victory of 2004 at this week's PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Hawaii.

The elite four-man event, which will be played over two rounds at the Poipu Bay Golf Course in Kauai scheduled to start later yesterday brings together the winners of the season's four major championships.

Singh, who clinched his third career major in the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in August, will face the challenge of US Masters champion Phil Mickelson, US Open winner Retief Goosen and British Open champion Todd Hamilton.

World number one Singh will go into the event as favourite after producing one of the greatest individual years in the history of the game in 2004.

The smooth-swinging Fijian became the first player in PGA Tour history to earn more than $10 million (about Dh36.78 million) in a single season, ending his campaign with nine titles and runaway leader in the money list.

Of the eight tournaments he played during August, September and October, he won six and tied for second in another.

Overall, he produced 18 top-10 finishes in 29 starts, 28 of which were strokeplay events.

"It's been sensational," he said, after tying for ninth in the Tour Championship earlier this month.

Britain's Darren Clarke has pulled out of next week's Sun City Golf Challenge in South Africa for family reasons, his manager said yesterday.

Clarke's wife, Heather, is unwell and the 36-year-old Northern Irishman has cancelled his playing schedule for the "foreseeable future".