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Vijay Singh won nine tournaments in 2004. 2004 was know more for Tiger’s failings than Fijian’s 9 victories .

Vijay Singh won nine times on the PGA Tour in 2004, including a major championship. But nobody outside of Fiji seemed to care.

When Tiger Woods triumphed nine times in 2000 - yes, with three majors - he was anointed God-like status by media and fans alike.

When Singh managed a similar accomplishment, it was greeted with something approaching a collective yawn. Ask people who don’t follow golf what they know about Singh and you’ll be greeted by blank looks.

Ask the very same people about Woods, and they will no doubt want to know details of his recent wedding.

In a celebrity-obsessed culture, merely being the best in your craft is not enough. You need the sizzle to sell the steak, which is why the 2004 will be remembered as much for what Woods didn’t do as for what Singh did.

What Woods didn’t do was dominate golf. He won only once on the PGA Tour, at the World Golf Championships Match Play Championship in February, and finished fourth on the money list, his worst ranking since also finishing fourth in 1998.

And although he ended the year with back-to-back victories in Japan and at his own unofficial tournament in California, it remains to be seen whether he really is back to his formerly brilliant best.

On the course at least, his void in 2004 was filled by Singh, whose dominance over the second half the season - including one stretch where he won five times in six starts - was truly magnificent.

His playoff triumph at the PGA Championship was the pinnacle of his year, but he was far from content to rest on his laurels. Rarely, if ever, has a 41-year-old been so consistently brilliant.

Singh assumed the world No. 1 ranking in early September, ending Woods’ reign of more than five years, and capped off the year by not only finishing atop the money list for the second successive year, but also collecting the Vardon Trophy for the best stroke average, and the Player of the Year award as voted by his peers.

Singh’s awesome finish made it easy to forget that until July, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els were the best players in the world, certainly in the majors. They staged a magnificent duel at the Masters, where Els fired a final-round 67, only to watch as Mickelson birdied the last hole to finally - at the age of 33 -win a long overdue major championship.

Mickelson came agonizingly close in the other three majors, losing by a collective five shots. How close he was to the Grand Slam was obscured because he went largely missing after August, conspicuous only for his dreadful performance at the Ryder Cup, where he struggled with a poor pairing and new equipment.

But at least Mickelson won a major. Els came up empty, despite contending in all four. The native of Zimbabwe lost a playoff to Todd Hamilton at the British Open and finished one shot out of a three-way playoff at the PGA Championship. He also was in the hunt at the U.S. Open until he faded with a final-round 80.

With Singh and Els at the top of the sport, it may seem as if the balance of power has shifted away from the U.S. and Europe. However, the Ryder Cup remains the game’s most compelling attraction, and this year’s installment at Oakland Hills, Michigan was no exception.

The Europeans are always underdogs based on the world rankings, but they dominated from the first shot to the last, winning by nine points for captain Bernhard Langer and leaving hapless and helpless American captain Hal Sutton to try to explain the inexplicable.

In particular, Sutton’s decision to pair Woods and Mickelson for two matches on the first day backfired. A blind man could see their incompatibility as they lost both times before being belatedly split up.

In women’s golf, Annika Sorenstam continued to dominate the LPGA, winning the money title for the fourth straight year. But she began the year by declaring her goal to be the Grand Slam, so eight victories in 18 starts, including one major, didn’t seem particularly special.

In the larger LPGA picture, 2004 also saw the continuing trend of South Korean domination, with four of the top 11 players on the money list hailing from that relatively small golfing nation.

Thankfully, the trend of women playing in men’s events so evident in 2003 largely ended - with one notable exception. Michelle Wie contested her hometown Sony Open in Hawaii, and the 14-year-old came within a shot of making the cut, thanks largely to brilliant putting.

Wie is returning in January for another crack at the men. But it seems that with rare exceptions, the novelty of women competing against men has worn off.

Filling the stocking with golf’s best of 2004 – plus a few lumps of coal:

• Best player: Wonder if the U.S. oil workers in Borneo paying $10 a lesson some 20 years ago ever thought their club pro would be the guy to break the PGA Tour’s $10 million barrier. Vijay Singh produced Tiger-like results in 2004 – nine wins, one of them a major, a Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average, $10.9 million in earnings. Oh, and he supplanted Mr. Woods atop the world rankings. Honorable mention: Annika Sorenstam, with 10 wins worldwide, another major and an LPGA-record scoring average.

• Best moment: Capping one of the best major-championship Sundays in history, Phil Mickelson birdied No. 18 to win the Masters and remove his major albatross. Augusta National’s patrons were nearly as gleeful as Mickelson, who at one point grabbed 4-year-old daughter Amanda and told her, ‘’Daddy won! Can you believe it?'’ Honorable mention: Meg Mallon winning the U.S. Women’s Open in her native Massachusetts.

• Breakout player: Miami’s Cristie Kerr won three times in 2004, more than any LPGA pro except Sorenstam and Mallon. Her methods ran the gamut – a seven-hole playoff in Las Vegas, a Sunday duel with Christina Kim at the Rail Classic and a come-from-behind sprint in Atlantic City.

• Shot of the year: Sudden-death playoffs don’t end much more suddenly than this. Craig Parry needed two swings to capture the Ford Championship at Doral, watching his 6-iron approach shot at No. 18 disappear into the cup from 176 yards away for eagle. ‘’What a sucker punch,'’ said Scott Verplank, the unwitting victim.

• Flop of the year: Hal Sutton had a secret plan under his 10-gallon hat from the day he was named U.S. Ryder Cup captain: He would pair Woods and Mickelson in the opening match. He forgot they meshed as well as the Titanic and an iceberg. Woods hardly acknowledged Mickelson as they lost twice as a duo, setting the tone for Europe’s record 18 ½-9 ½ romp.

• Duel of the year: Paired with Ernie Els for the British Open’s final 40 holes, Todd Hamilton stared down the Big Easy in a four-hole playoff. The 38-year-old journeyman did it with four steady pars, the last a 40-yard bump-and-run that stopped two feet from the cup. Els bogeyed the third extra hole and missed a 15-foot birdie that would have extended the playoff.

• Fairway follies: U.S. Golf Association inaction left the greens at Shinnecock Hills baked out, creating a train-wreck Sunday at the U.S. Open. No one broke par for the first time in a final round since 1963, and 22 players shot in the 80s. The day’s 78.7 scoring average just missed tying the highest since 1935.

• One-hit wonder: Andre Stolz arrived in Las Vegas having made just five of 19 PGA Tour cuts, with no higher finish than 34th. Three 67s and a 65 turned him into a lottery winner, producing a one-shot triumph. Stolz took the rest of the year off.

• Amateur Slam: Ryan Moore’s magical summer may have been the best since the days of Bobby Jones. In a three-month span, Moore won the NCAA crown, U.S. Amateur Public Links, Western Amateur and U.S. Amateur. In the U.S. Amateur final, Moore won the final four holes to erase a 2-down deficit.

• Champion giver: Champions Tour pro Allen Doyle stunned his alma mater, Norwich University, with a $1.1 million pledge during a fund-raising outing in August. Doyle’s 2004 tour winnings, by the way, were $1.2 million.

• Scrooge: Ten events into the Maverick Tour’s initial foray into South Florida, founder Tim Avramidis vanished along with whatever money was in the tour’s bank account. Officials estimate he left behind some $350,000 owed to players in prize money and prepaid tournament entries.

• Dubious DQ: Confusion over a provisional led Greg Norman to bolt the Honda Classic rather than replay part of the previous hole. Norman’s drive at No. 13 headed toward a marshy area, prompting Norman to declare a provisional not allowed in the rules. When the first ball was found in a fairway bunker, Norman went back to playing that one – but shouldn’t have because the second ball had become the ball in play.

• Goodbye: Bruce Edwards, Moe Norman, Harold Henning, Royal Caribbean Classic, Arnie in the Masters.

• Hello: Paula Creamer, Ed Carbone, Mrs. Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods admitted his frustration with his swing this year in an e-mail newsletter sent this week, but said two late-season victories had boosted his confidence for greater success in 2005.

Woods won in Japan last month and at the World Challenge event that he hosted earlier this month. But those successes came after a PGA season in which his only victory was in the World Golf Championships Match Play event.

“It is frustrating when you can do it at home with your buddies but it
doesn’t carry over to tournaments,” Woods wrote. “Obviously there’s a lot more pressure, but you just have to keep working at it.

“I’ve been down this road before with swing changes. I did it with (swing coach) Butch Harmon and now I’m doing it with Hank Haney. The last time it took me two years to get it right. That’s just part of the process.”

Woods, whose stock answer of being “just a little off the mark” quickly became laughable as his struggles continued, said he had never sunk into despair over the reworking of his swing.

“I never really got that low, because I was proving it to myself on the range,” Woods wrote. “I knew it was in there. The key is going out and trusting your swing in competition.

“Just before I went to Japan for the Dunlop Phoenix, I was hitting balls on the range at Big Canyon Country Club and it clicked. I hit a beautiful 8-iron and finally did it right. When you do it right, you don’t feel anything.

“I closed 2004 with eight consecutive rounds in the 60s, which gives me lots of confidence for next year.

“I also won more than $7 million (R40 million) worldwide for the sixth year in a row, which is a pretty good streak - especially for someone who was tweaking his golf swing.”

Woods was able to continue his streak of events without missing a cut, but often faded from contention early, something seldom seen in past seasons.

“I think the thing I’m proudest about is being able to score when I don’t have it,” he wrote.

“People kept saying what a horrible year I had, and I finished fourth on the money list. That’s not all bad.”

But it was a step down from his PGA player-of-the-year level and major- champion status of previous seasons.

Woods lost the world number one ranking to US PGA money champion and Player of the Year Vijay Singh of Fiji.

“It wasn’t easy. I had to dig deep many times when I just didn’t have it and that takes a mental and physical toll on you,” Woods wrote.

“If you shoot 65s every day, it takes no effort and the game is pretty easy. When you’re not playing well and have to shoot 70, that’s hard.”

Woods, who won four major titles in a row after tweaking his swing to find more fairways at the expense of minimal distance, said he had gained a better understanding of stroke mechanics this time around.

“I think the biggest thing I learned this year was a better understanding of the golf swing,” he wrote.

“I always say if you’re not trying to get better, you’re standing still, and people are passing you by.

“That’s why I changed my swing. You’re always learning, tinkering around and trying new things. That’s just part of trying to become a better golfer.

“It’s frustrating at times, but we all have to go through that process. Every player who has played this sport has gone through it. You just take baby steps and play through all that.

“I reaped some rewards at the end of the year for my hard work and that was very satisfying. Hopefully, my good play will carry over to 2005.”

Woods plans to open the season in Hawaii next month, then play at San Diego in an event sponsored by one of his car sponsors.

It is amazing how some players, with their backs to the wall, tend to play better than usual. Chandigarh’s Irina Brar showed tremendous grit to overcome back problems and a nervous play-off to win the 55th Ladies Western India Golf Championship, sponsored by WIGA, at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club course on Friday.

‘‘My back has been aching for some time and my doctor had advised rest. But I had to play so I skipped practice sessions to get rest,’’ revealed the 21-year-old later. Brar also kept her nerves during the play-off over citymate Parneeta Grewal, prevailing with a birdie on the par-5 19th hole, to lift the title.

Grewal, trailing Brar by four strokes overnight, played brilliant golf on the last day, returning a par round of 70 to tie with Brar (74) on 293, which prompted the play-off. However, Brar, the country’s top-ranked player held her nerves and sunk a birdie to emerge champion.

Brar, who had lost to Grewal by six strokes last week at Kolkata, said after her victory that she was tense during the play-off. This was also because she had lost in a play-off to Grewal four years ago. However, she managed to reverse the tables on her close rival this time around.

Grewal reserved her best for the last, playing the first nine holes in two-under 33, with birdies on the 3rd and 5th holes. Her back nine was marred a bit by bogies on the 10th and 15th holes, but her performance was the best among all the golfers over four days.