• Rewind to 2004

Singh moves closer to toppling Tiger

Vijay Singh won the 2004 US PGA Championship © Getty Images

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With the US PGA Championship getting underway this week, ESPN.co.uk looks back to the last time the Major was held at the venue for this year's tournament, Whistling Straits...

"It is sad to see somebody win it the way I did," confessed a solemn Vijay Singh after triumphing at the 2004 US PGA Championship in a play-off that should never have taken place. The magnanimous words came as no consolation to Justin Leonard, who knew he had thrown away a golden opportunity to lift a second Major title.

Leonard, playing in the final group at the US PGA for the third time, stormed into a two-shot lead with five holes to play after sinking an 18-foot birdie putt. It was an advantage that looked unassailable given that his pursuers - Singh and Chris di Marco - were struggling to mount a sustained challenge.

But Leonard was to become a prisoner to nerves - his composure deserted him on the greens as the tournament ambled towards its conclusion. The American failed to sink a series of routine putts down the stretch, the last one frittering his lead away and forcing him into a three-way play-off. "I missed about four putts inside 10 feet on the back nine," Leonard said. "It's pretty hard to win a golf tournament, much less a Major, when you do that."

Although the swirling wind had wreaked havoc with aspects of their play, Leonard and Singh - who led by one entering the final day - should have fared better than rounds of 75 and 76 respectively. Di Marco, who had hardly looked at the peak of his powers, was the man with the momentum ahead of the play-off after his one-under 71 saw him claw back the five-shot deficit he faced on the first tee.

There certainly was not a swell of support behind Singh - who failed to pick up any shots over the final 18 holes and had taken 34 putts - as he readied himself for the play-off battle. But the Fijian had won three times on the PGA Tour that year - and he had decided to throw caution to the wind. "You know, a play-off is a play-off," he said afterwards. "You have nothing to lose. You've got to be aggressive when you play it. You know that you can't finish worse than second. You've got nothing to lose. Go all-out and play for it."

Tiger Woods' struggles on day one scuppered his chances of victory © Getty Images

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And, with this unequivocal statement of intent raging in his mind, the 41-year-old birdied the first hole of the playoff, the 10th, to take a lead that he never relinquished. It was a startling display of composure from Singh, who appeared to have completely banished from his mind all of the gremlins that had affected his game earlier in the day.

"I didn't think I played badly, but my putter fell asleep on me," Singh said. "I played really well in the play-off, though. I just hung in there. I said I am going to make a shot sooner or later. It looked ugly when you look at the score because it was four over. This is the biggest accomplishment in my career. This makes my year."

While a relieved Singh - he had just fired a highest final-round score ever by a PGA champion - contemplated his third Major win, the man he would go on to replace at the top of the world rankings later that year, Tiger Woods, was rueing an underwhelming performance that saw him complete six shots off the pace.

"I'm disappointed. I didn't win," Woods said. "I felt like I was playing so well coming into this event, and I just didn't - I played decent on Thursday but putted atrociously [he carded a 75], and that put me behind the 8-ball. A lot of room that I had to make up and I just didn't quite get it all back."

Woods went onto snatch the No. 1 ranking back from Singh in April 2005, before holding onto it with such a firm grip that wresting it from his grasp had looked impossible. But his veneer of invincibility has now been cracked, and it appears only a matter of time before he is usurped - perhaps by the winner of this year's US PGA.

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