The tortoises take control

The moral of the story about the tortoise and the hare is that slow and steady wins the race. Last weekend, Vijay Singh and Matt Kenseth proved to be their respective sports' head tortoises.\nSingh wrapped up the PGA Tour Money List title by finishing tied for fifth at the Tour Championship. He became the first player other than Tiger Woods to win the money title since 1998. Furthermore, he helped his chances to win the PGA Tour Player of the Year Award, which is voted on by his fellow players. Making 26 of 27 cuts this year, Singh earned $7,573,907.\nKenseth, meanwhile, clinched the NASCAR Winston Cup points title -- maybe the saying should be fast and steady wins the race -- with his third place finish at the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. (Sheesh, you wonder if NASCAR might get a corporate tie-in one of these days.) The points title was the first of his career.\nBoth Singh and Kenseth are late bloomers. Singh, 40, has been a pro since 1982. Kenseth, 31, didn't get a Winston Cup ride until 1999. Prior to driving on the Busch series in 1998, Kenseth thought he might be headed back to the regional circuits.\nBoth come from places not considered likely to produce top notch athletes in their sport. Singh comes from Fiji, an island nation with less than a handful of golf courses. Kenseth comes from Cambridge, Wis., a town of 1,100 nowhere-close-to-the-good-ol'-boy epicenter of stock car racing.\nThe most noteworthy comparison, though, has to do with their keen desire to compete. Kenseth won only one race, becoming the first driver since Benny Parsons in 1973 to win the points title despite winning only once. (Nobody has ever won the points title despite going winless.) Singh never claimed dominance over Tiger Woods -- Tiger won more money per tournament competed -- but won four times and hung in there in dozens of others.\nKenseth started slowly, finishing 20th in the Daytona 500. After that, he was on the lead lap often, finishing third, first, fourth, eighth, second, sixth and ninth in his next seven races respectively. He took a lead he wouldn't relinquish.\n Singh made 26 of 27 cuts this year. He missed a paycheck only at The Players Championship, perhaps the most prestigious non-major, but he came back two weeks later to finish tied for sixth at The Masters. In fact, he didn't win any major and finished in the top 15 in only The Masters and the British Open, where he tied for second behind Ben Curtis.\nHe had the strongest finish among everybody on the PGA Tour. He finished in the top six in each of his last eight tournaments, including wins at the John Deere Classic and the Funai Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort. At the season-ending Tour Championship, Singh finished tied for fifth while Woods finished 26th out of 31 competitors. \nBoth also have their critics. Kenseth's critics believe that his points title de-emphasizes winning. Given that Ryan Newman won eight races while Kenseth won just one, shouldn't Newman get more credit? However, Newman finished 38th or worse four weeks in a row at one point also.\nDespite the disparity in victories, Kenseth still has had the more impressive year. What must be considered is how demanding the races are from week to week and the different conditions Kenseth has had to race under in to be competitive every week. It's a real credit to him and his crew to make sure Kenseth has a competitive car for both the restrictor-plate races at the superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega and the tight ovals like Bristol.\nThe criticism of Singh is more personal. While participating on the Asian Tour at the 1985 Indonesian Open, tournament officials disqualified Singh for cheating. He reportedly altered his scorecard by one stroke to the better in order to make the cut. The Asian Tour eventually indefinitely suspended him.\nWhile taking a mulligan or three while playing with your friends at the IU Golf Course is one thing, cheating in a professional event is another. According to Links Magazine, Singh has never fully explained what happened. Rather, he has taken his anger out on the media, many of whom have found him to be surly.\nSingh also angered many by saying that he would rather withdraw than play with Annika Sorenstam at the Colonial back in May and that he hoped Sorenstam missed the cut. His comments were too personal for many.\nBut like Kenseth, he was about focus, putting everything aside and saving his best for both the beginning and end of the year.