Newly- honoured Asian Tour member and defending champion, Vijay Singh of Fiji overcame a stomach virus to take charge at the top with a sparkling five-under-par 65 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard on Saturday.

The 45-year old Fijian, back to a clean bill of health after a severe bout of food poisoning carded a halfway total of nine-under par 131to open up a two stroke lead over Sweden’s Carl Pettersson.

World number one Tiger Woods posted a 68 for a 138 total to finish seven strokes behind Singh at the Bill Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando.

2006 Maybank Malaysian Open champion, Charlie Wi ended his campaign at the US$5.8 million event after finishing on 146.