Uncertainty Over Vijay Singh, But Popular Field Expected at Bellerive

Housed out of an inglorious trailer based in the parking lot at Bellerive Country Club in West St. Louis County, preparations are well underway for the 2013 Senior PGA Tour Championship, sponsored by KitchenAid.

You're going to start noticing some construction traffic in the Ladue Road area in a few weeks. Tournament organizers are hoping that a strong field lures spectator traffic to the course for the week leading up to Memorial Day.

They won't have a firm set of commitments until sometime in April, but organizers expect Kansas City resident and 2014 Ryder Cup Captain Tom Watson to play, along with Hale Irwin and Jay Haas, who have ties to the St. Louis area.

Bellerive Head Golf Pro Mike Tucker said local golf fans will note that local golf pros JC Anderson, from St. Charles County and Bob Gaus from South St. Louis County, have also qualified for the event. 

In addition, Senior PGA rookies Rocco Mediate (who famously dueled Tiger Woods in the 2008 U.S. Open) and Steve Elkington, who won the 1995 PGA Championship should also be in the field.

What nobody seems to know is the status of fellow Senior PGA Rookie Vijay Singh, who became eligible by turning 50 on February 22. Singh, who only a few years ago was the world's top ranked player and is a pro golf Hall of Famer, is the latest athlete to be implicated in connection with performance enhancing drugs. Sports Illustrated reported that Singh paid a firm $9,000 for among other things, deer antler spray which is banned by the PGA Tour.

Singh has denied knowing that the substance was prohibited. Fox Sports reported that Singh and PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem met last month and that some decision on Singh's fate was expected "relatively soon" in a story posted February 25.

“He’s played so well the past couple of years there’s a chance that he might still be out there playing on the regular tour... as far as concerns over his eligiblility and things like that, we’ll kind of follow the tour’s lead," said Jason Mengel, the Championship's director, told Patch. As it currently stands, Mengel said he anticipates Singh playing, calling him a "huge draw, a great name and a player."

Mengel said he checked and found 50 players from the 1992 PGA Championship held at Bellerive who appeared in the field of the 2012 Senior PGA Championship.