Wachovia defending champion is struggling

The 43-year-old Fijian is suffering his longest drought in seven years.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Vijay Singh took an exaggerated pause at the top of his swing, the iron set in a good position, then completed the shot and watched it soar against blue skies Wednesday at Quail Hollow.
The club still feels like a wand in the hand of a wizard. His swing is smooth and powerful as ever.
The only thing missing is a trophy.
Singh is the defending champion when the Wachovia Championship starts today, a place that brings back happy thoughts. He closed with a 6-under 66 last year to get into a three-man playoff, then outlasted Jim Furyk on the fourth extra hole. He made winning look easy, even when he was coming from six shots behind on the last day.
He won 18 times over a three-year stretch, allowing him to replace Tiger Woods at No. 1 in the world.
Now it's a grind.
Singh shows up at a tournament feeling as though his game is as good as ever until something breaks down -- his driving one week, his irons another week, sometimes his putting.
The result is his longest drought in seven years without a victory, and he's running out of answers.
"I thought I was pretty close in Houston," he said. "And obviously it wasn't."
Singh shot 75 in the third round at Houston and wound up in a tie for 36th, his worst finish of the year.
Poised, then tumbles
He was poised to capture The Players Championship, one shot out of the lead and playing in the final group. He tumbled to a 77. Perhaps his best chance to win this year was the season-opening Mercedes Championship, but he three-putted for par from 100 feet and lost a playoff to Stuart Appleby.
"I'm coming back with not having won for I don't know how many tournaments," Singh said, "but just looking forward to playing here again. I have a lot of good memories over here."
Singh has gone 18 starts on the PGA Tour without winning, his longest stretch since he went 18 between winning the Houston Open and the Tour Championship in 2002. His last victory was nine months ago at the Buick Open, and the last time he went that many months without winning was in 1999.
But he hardly looks worried, and there is no reason to panic.
"I worked really hard last week and felt good yesterday," Singh said. "For the first time, I felt like I was getting very close to where I want to be."
Ninth in money
Singh has seven top 10s this year, and he is ninth on the money list with $1.8 million. He lost the No. 1 ranking to Woods last year, and now has slipped to No. 3 behind Masters champion Phil Mickelson.
If his game looks off, it's because there are natural comparisons to where he was.
The 43-year-old Fijian hit full stride and stayed at that pace for the better part of three years. He won four times in 2003 when he challenged Woods for player of the year, won nine times and a record $10.9 million in 2004 when he was unquestionably the best player in golf, then added four more victories last year.
"His level of play has been incredible the last three or four years," Mickelson said. "It's hard to have everything clicking all the time, but he's been able to do it for such a sustained period of time that if he goes just a few months without a win, everyone is clamoring, 'What's wrong with Vijay?' But he's playing incredible golf, and he'll get back to that level."
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