Singh a tiger with different stripes

PINEHURST, N.C. -- Ever wonder what a Vijay Day is like?

Tiger, everybody knows. We all know that steely stare, the way he signifies approval of a tee shot by reaching for the tee before the ball has reached its apex and, of course, the clenched-fist Tiger Pump when the birdie putt (or miracle shot of some sort) drops in the hole and the grimacing, dropped head, and slumped shoulders when things aren't going so well (like yesterday afternoon, for example). We know he detests people with cameras and that he always wears red on Sunday when he's in the hunt.

So much for one of the two Greatest Golfers In The World. What about the other one? What about Vijay Singh?

We know he's from Fiji, we know that when he isn't playing he practices from dawn to dusk, and we know he thinks Annika Sorenstam, Tiger's good friend, should stay on the LPGA Tour (something many PGA Tour players believe, but only Vijay was politically incorrect enough to say).

After watching 4 hours 55 minutes and 18 holes worth of Vijay Singh yesterday, I think I can say one thing for sure: If you'd like to hit a golf ball well, you probably want to hit it the way Vijay Singh does. My whole life, I've read about how great Ben Hogan was from tee to green. I doubt he could have been much better than Vijay Singh was yesterday on this treacherous golf course.

So why did he only shoot even-par 70? We'll get to that.

The fact is he only missed two fairways, and this wasn't done by employing an old man's safety-first swing, either. This was done while driving an average of 300.5 yards. The only fairways he missed were No. 2, when he drove far right, past the ropes, and onto the dusty foot path; and No. 3, when he went for the green on the 336-yard par 4 and landed in the bunker to the right and below the green, which, for bombers like him, is a perfectly acceptable result. Let the record show that he parred each of those holes.

This means that after missing the fairway on holes 2 and 3, he never missed another. Let's contrast this performance with, say, that of Phil Mickelson. The Big Lefty was his classically erratic self off the tee (hitting eight fairways and only reaching two back-nine greens in regulation), so much so that he came out with a boffo Mickelsonian spin. His problem, he explained, was that he wasn't missing the fairways by enough. ''When I would miss it 20, 30 yards in the stuff, I was a lot better off than just barely in the rough." Oh, if Phil had only done what Vijay did on No. 2 and hit more footpaths. I mean, just how goofily lovable is our Phil?

Now Vijay is surely not goofy, and most people might say he isn't lovable, either. But he seems to be working on that. Shortly before he teed off, one USGA official was saying how much better Vijay had become from a PR point of view. ''It had almost reached the point where we stopped even asking him [to do press conferences]," the official said. ''Now he seems to embrace them."

And Singh can thank another USGA official, this one from the Rules Committee, for saving him untold grief. ''Ever since the [Ian] Woosnam incident [when the wee Welshman discovered he had a second driver, and thus an illegal 15th club, in his bag] at the British Open," the official said, ''I make sure I check bags. And Vijay had a 15th club, a weighted practice club with a reminder grip, in his. I didn't tell him. I told his caddie [Paul Tesori], and he removed the club." For all we know, Vijay still doesn't know how close he came to being penalized.

The first piece of evidence that Vijay Singh is not yet Tiger's equal when it comes to fan appeal is the size of the gallery. True, he teed off at 7:55 a.m., but Tiger would have the fairways lined if he went off four hours earlier than that. For most of his front nine, Singh was playing before sparse crowds. But those who came saw a master, as drive after drive was crushed into the outer reaches of the fairway. One such wallop prompted a fan to remark, as he gazed at the distant tee box, ''That's a long way back there."

Throughout the day, the drives would be followed by a nice approach shot, and why not? ''I drove it really well today," he would later say. ''I drove it long and pretty straight, so I hit wedges and 9-irons most of the day around . . . if you have a wedge in your hand and good yardage, you can go for the flags."

For a man who is portrayed as distant and remote, he seemed to be an agreeable playing partner. He occasionally chatted up Padraig Harrington and Bart Bryant, and once he held forth with Bryant's caddie, Bos Chaney. He gave the crowd a hint of personal accessibility when he groaned after narrowly missing a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 5 and then arched his back in frustration, eliciting some laughter from the gallery.

He wore what would have to be considered his signature garb: khaki slacks, white shirt, brown shoes, and a white visor with the familiar Cleveland lettering. He frequently strikes the classic golf pose as he awaits his turn. You know; weight on right leg, left leg crossed, left hand resting on the top of the club shaft.

And perhaps the very best thing about watching him play is that he is no dawdler. He sizes up the situation quickly, he takes the club and he hits his shot, and he's no different on the green.

The way he struck the ball, he coulda/shoulda/woulda had a great round yesterday, but he didn't. One need not possess a PhD in Linksology to figure out the reason.

''The putts were the problem today," he sighed. ''Just the pace of the greens were a little slower than what I thought it was going to be."

Yes, the putts. He had what I would term legitimate birdie opportunities on Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. His only birdie on the front came on the 404-yard, par-4 seventh, when he sank a 5-footer. His other birdie tries were short, short, short, short, and, yup, short. There's that pacing thing he was alluding to.

He ended the front nine at even par when he bogeyed the par-3 ninth, as his tee shot was mired in thick Bermuda grass just short of the green and he could get his second shot no closer than 10 feet. On the back nine, he was doing fine until he reached the much-discussed horror of a par 3 at 15. His tee shot failed to hold the green, and he wound up taking a 4. He three-putted from 35 feet on No. 16 and concluded by missing a 3-foot putt for a birdie on No. 18. ''You know," he said, ''I was really frustrated with that. I thought I hit a good putt, I just didn't aim it left enough."

As I said, coulda/shoulda/woulda, but that's golf, after all. ''He could have been 6 or 7 under," said Bryant.

But he sits at even par midway through a US Open, which is an OK place to be. ''I feel like I'm in a great position right now," Singh said, ''and if I can go out there and figure out the pace of the greens, come out strong tomorrow, we'll see what happens."

With that, he was off to the practice green. He might even have brought along his miner's lamp.

Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is ryan@globe.com.