‘Surprised’ Singh in control at Greenbrier

First round leaderboard: -7 V Singh (Fij) -6 J Maggert -6 M Flores -6 J Byrd

Friday, July 06, 2012

First round leaderboard:-7 V Singh (Fij)-6 J Maggert-6 M Flores-6 J ByrdWEST VIRGINIA - Three-time major winner Vijay Singh turned back the clock when he fired a seven-under-par 63 to grab a one-shot lead at The Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia.The 49-year-old Fijian used up just 25 putts, as he came home in 30 shots over The Old White at White Sulphur Springs where he covered the last eight holes in six under par.Singh, a winner of 34 PGA Tour events but none since September 2008, admitted being surprised by his low score.He said: "I don’t know where that came from. I’ve been playing pretty good golf for a while but just never got any scoring going."It’s my first round of the year, I would say, that I felt really comfortable with.  "It’s a good way to start a tournament. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.”SpeedSingh, who is currently 76th in the FedEx Cup standings, found 14 greens in regulation and at the end of the first day his nearest challengers are Americans Jeff Maggert, Martin Flores and Jonathan Byrd.It was not such a good day for Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson, though. Both players signed for one-over-par 71s.Woods headed into this event buoyed by victory at Congressional last weekend - his third win of the season and fourth in seven months - and seeking back-to-back top-10 PGA Tour finishes for the first time since the start of 2010.But he struggled with his putter and found himself eight shots off the pace after the first round of his final tournament before the Open in a fortnight.