Vijay Singh tied for lead in Senior PGA Championship at Congressional

BETHESDA, Md. — Vijay Singh started thinking about what he might do with his weekend after bogeying the first three holes Friday at the Senior PGA Championship.

''Your mind just goes haywire,'' he said. ''But I've played long enough to know that there's a lot of golf out there.''

Then, he showed it.

After missing the Masters and PGA Championship this spring because of an undisclosed injury, Singh looked perfectly healthy the rest of the second round with seven birdies to surge to the top of the leaderboard at Congressional Country Club. Shooting a 4-under 68, the former top-ranked player was tied for the lead with Y.E. Yang (68) and Cameron Percy (71) at 6 under halfway through the PGA Tour Champions major.

''I've been driving the ball good,'' Singh said. ''Just hung in there and started making a couple of birdies here and there, picked up the shots, and the back nine I played solid golf.''

The 62-year-old from Fiji is aiming for his first career victory at the course in the Maryland suburbs just outside of Washington, which he has played a handful of times, including the 1997 U.S. Open. He tied for 77th then and missed the cut in his last event at Congressional, Tiger Woods' tournament in 2014.

''I've always loved playing here,'' Singh said, noting that much has changed from his previous tries. ''It's totally a different golf course, totally new golf course. The greens are very challenging, to say the least.''

Singh, who spent 32 weeks atop the world ranking roughly two decades ago and was known for his rigorous practice habits, has cut that part of his routine in half.

''Once I get on the range and hit, it used to be I'd go out there and hit five, six good shots and I'd say, ‘OK, let's see if I can do 20 of these ones,''' Singh said. ''But now if I hit two or three good shots, I say, ‘I've had enough, that's it.'"

Yang birdied four of his last five holes Friday.

With conditions changing throughout his round, Percy kept looking for the big American flag to see how windy it was at any given moment and credited growing up in Melbourne, Australia, for knowing how to handle it.

''I think the wind definitely helps me,'' Percy said. ''You get down in the tree lines and you can't feel the wind, and then you walk 200 yards and it's blowing like crazy.''

Padraig Harrington headlined a crowded group two strokes back at 4 under. Stuart Cink, Justin Leonard, defending champion Richard Bland and others were 3 under.

Ernie Els followed an opening 69 with a 75 to drop to even par. He won the 1997 U.S. Open at Congressional.

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