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GREENSBORO — The Wyndham Championship hooked its biggest golfer in years Thursday when three-time major winner Vijay Singh signed up for next month’s tournament.

Singh’s commitment, which caught Wyndham officials by surprise, provides considerable heft to an increasingly improving field that already includes defending champion Brandt Snedeker , two-time winners Davis Love III and Rocco Mediate , and David Toms .

Singh is 10th in the latest world golf rankings.

Greensboro hasn’t been graced by a golfer of such stature since Sergio Garcia , who was ranked sixth at the time, played here in 2005.

Tournament director Mark Brazil said he had been talking on and off for weeks with Singh and his agent, Clarke Jones , about playing at Sedgefield. Brazil said Singh was piqued by playing a Donald Ross course but was noncommittal.

So when the call came Thursday from Jones that Singh wanted in, Brazil said he was “shocked and then immediately thrilled.”

“This is one of our biggest commit ments in years,” Brazil said. “He may be ranked 10th, but I look at Vijay as one of the top five players in the world. He’s a guy who when he wins you’re not surprised by it. He’s always up there.”

Singh won the 1998 PGA Championship and the Masters two years later. He won his second PGA Championship in 2004 . Singh finished third on the PGA Tour’s money list last year, the 10th straight year he has finished among the tour’s top five.

When Wyndham leaders announced earlier this year that the tournament was moving from Forest Oaks to Sedgefield, they predicted the course and its history would attract a few big names.

Sedgefield was designed by Ross, whom many consider America’s preeminent golf architect. It is the only Ross-designed course on the PGA Tour’s regular-season schedule.

The Wyndham will be played Aug. 14-17.

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or robert.bell@news-record.com