KAPALUA, Hawaii, Jan 4 - Vijay Singh, frustrated for much of last year with swing problems, made a rousing start to the 2007 PGA Tour on Thursday.

The former world number one fired a four-under-par 69 in the wind-swept first round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship to join four others at the top of the leaderboard.

Having triumphed only once in his last 35 PGA Tour appearances, the Fijian believes his game is now ready for a vintage campaign.

"I came prepared here," Singh told reporters after rattling up six birdies and two bogeys at the Kapalua Resort's Plantation Course.

"I don't like coming into a golf tournament trying to find my game. I had a good practice and felt good about my game."

Singh, who ended Tiger Woods's five-year reign as world number one in September 2004 before finishing that season with a remarkable haul of nine victories, has slipped to seventh in the rankings.

Although he clinched his 29th PGA Tour title at last year's Barclays Classic, he was not at his best for much of 2006.

He pinpointed flaws in his golf swing towards the end of the year and worked hard to rectify them.

"The results started to improve," the workaholic Singh said. "I was always positive in the off-season and getting ready for this season.

"If you finish the season and then you try to figure out what happened, then you've got a problem. I knew what was going on, and it was important for me to fix it."

The three-times major winner, runner-up here twice in the last three years, knows Kapalua as well as anyone but does not believe he is owed victory at the Hawaiian venue.

"Golf doesn't owe you anything," the 43-year-old said. "If you start feeling that way, then you've got a problem.

"But I've had great, great finishes over here and I know the golf course. I know pretty much where to hit it on the greens and which side to miss it, which are very fast putts.

"And I'm hitting the ball solid. I hit it solid today so I'm looking forward to the next three days."