The 2026 season started with Vijay Singh embarking on a PGA Tour comeback. That attempt was short-lived, but the 63-year-old found a way to put his mark on the year anyway.
On Sunday, Singh captured his first victory in over three years at the PGA Tour Champions’ SAS Championship.
After his tournament-winning final round, Singh admitted, “It’s nice to win when you haven’t won in a while.” But that’s not the only reason this win was significant.
As the three-time major winner revealed this weekend, he was playing the SAS Championship with a new caddie on the bag. Why? Because his former caddie had “fired” Singh on Tuesday, just days before the tournament began.
Vijay Singh wins SAS Championship with last-minute replacement caddie
After Singh rolled in his par putt at Prestonwood Country Club’s 18th hole Sunday evening, closing out a two-shot victory, one of the first things he did was hug his caddie, Wayne De Haas.
It turns out that embrace was only five days in the making.
On Saturday evening ahead of the final round, Singh revealed that his previous caddie had “fired” him on Tuesday of tournament week. De Haas, who had worked with Singh before, filled in as replacement caddie just before the event began.
“Well, my caddie fired me this Tuesday. I think I was a little — I was getting onto him too much,” Singh said in his press conference after the third round. “It’s good to have Wayne back. We worked together for a while. Just comfortable. Get on the tee, you don’t have to think about too much. And he’s doing most of the thinking, you just have to hit it. It’s pretty good, I’m happy to have him back.”
Singh was all the happier when he and De Haas carried their momentum into Sunday, shooting a three-under 69 to finish two shots ahead of Ernie Els.
You can imagine De Haas is feeling just as happy, if not more so. He is a former pro golfer himself and has caddied for several pros since his own retirement, including Els and Cameron Young.
But recently, De Haas “lost his job” as a Korn Ferry Tour caddie, as Singh shared on Sunday night. When Singh’s own caddie ditched him on Tuesday, the pro called up De Haas to see if he was interested in carrying his bag. The twist of fate worked out better than either could have imagined.
“All a coincidence. [De Haas] lost his job on the Korn Ferry and my caddie fired me this week, and I just called up Wayne and I said, ‘Hey, are you ready?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ You know, it was a good team because I missed him, I missed what he brings to the teamwork,” Singh explained on Sunday after their win. “It was so much easier to play golf with somebody really knowing what they’re doing.”
In addition to his three major titles, Singh has captured 34 PGA Tour wins in his Hall of Fame career. Sunday’s victory pushed his PGA Tour Champions win total to six. After a three-year wait, he admitted he was happy to get back to his winning ways this week.
“I haven’t won in a while. It’s always nice to win no matter where you’re playing, which tournament it is. It’s nice to win when you haven’t won in a while. I think I haven’t won in — I don’t know how many years I haven’t won, four, five years,” Singh said. “This one feels good right now. Hopefully it’s going to boost me up for the next few events to come and for next year.”
As for what led to his drought-snapping victory (besides his new caddie), Singh pointed to a recent “rededication” to working on his game following a period of “lazy practicing.”
“I think I kind of rededicated myself a little bit. I have been very lazy practicing. I’ve been working out, but I haven’t been practicing very much,” Singh explained. “So I think I have to start doing that, which I started doing that again and I think that’s why I won today, I guess. Just the extra work that got me through.”
With his victory, Singh launched up the Schwab Cup standings into 33rd. He and the rest of the senior circuit will now embark on the three-event Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs, which culminate at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in November.
