Singh-ing from the wrong hymnsheet

I was very disappointed to hear about Vijay Singh’s decision to file a lawsuit against the PGA Tour.

Tour executives were placed in an awkward position when Singh admitted he had used deer antler spray, which contained small amounts of a banned substance.

There was no way Vijay could have carried on playing with that hanging over him.

With today’s attitude towards drugs in sport, he would have been voraciously pursued at every tournament by the Media. It would have turned into an unwelcome circus, which is no good for golf.

Instead, the PGA Tour, which remember is largely a players’ organisation, decided that it was best for him not to play in those circumstances. Then the matter could be investigated in a diligent manner. I actually thought they’d handled it well.

Now, Singh has been absolved from any wrong doing and has no case to answer. It would have been better for Vijay to let it go and carry on with his life. But the US is a litigious society, and the lawyers have probably been quick to get in the Fijian’s ear about a loss of earnings. The US Tour has been great for him, and he has won countless millions of dollars playing in the States.

But in this case, he has failed to take a step back and see the bigger picture and the negative image a lawsuit portrays. This will also ostracise him from the other players. The PGA Tour had a duty to act on behalf of all its members in tackling this issue.

And Singh’s timing was poor too, coming on the eve of the Players’ Championship. This is the Tour’s flagship event and some of the gloss has been taken off. In this situation, there is no long- term benefit for either party and it puts our sport in a very bad light.

On a brighter note, I was delighted to see Colin Montgomerie inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more for his achievements. No-one will ever beat his record of seven successive Orders of Merit, and he performed heroically for Europe in eight Ryder Cups.

Colin is definitely the best player never to win a Major. He could easily have won several, but it’s probably the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot that he’ll regret the most. Having seemingly done the hard part by finding the fairway on the last hole, it just needed a good iron-shot and two putts to win. Instead, he missed the green with his seven-iron, hit a poor chip and ended up with a double bogey.

He turns 50 on June 23 and can begin a new chapter in his colourful career on the Seniors Tour. Being in the Hall of Fame suddenly opens doors for Colin as he automatically gains a tour card in America. That means he’ll pick and choose the tournaments he wants to play. Colin will relish being the youngest guy out there and it will give him an edge over his rivals. He’ll like the feeling of standing on the first tee again thinking he can win. Make no mistake, he’d love to win a Senior Major. The big three of Nicklaus, Palmer and Player all won them, and for Colin it would make up in a small way for some of the ones he lost on the main tour.