NORTON, Mass. –– This was the Deutsche Bank Championship, not the Bank of America Championship.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that four foreigners topped the rest of the field over the holiday weekend at TPC Boston.

America First?

How about America tied for fifth?

That was the best a native son could do, as Fiji’s fabulous Vijay Singh led an international parade of players atop the leaderboard.

The good news for the Yanks is that none of those top four finishers will be playing in the Ryder Cup three weeks from now at Valhalla in Louisville, Ky.

That’s a break for the struggling Americans, who clearly need one, given that they’ve been whupped in the last three Cups, absorbing embarrassing, 18 1/2-9 1/2 thumpings in each of the last two, and won’t have the world’s best player –– Tiger Woods, who’s rehabbing following knee surgery –– available this time

The U.S. has lost five of the last six Ryder Cups, the only win coming at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., in 1999, when they staged a thrilling rally from a 10-6 deficit by racking up 8 1/2 points in the 12 singles matches for a dramatic 14 1/2-13 1/2 victory.

There was no such suspense yesterday.

This tournament was all but officially over when Singh birdied the 11th, 12th and 14th holes, while Canada’s Mike Weir –– who had led Colombia’s Camilo Villegas by one shot, and Singh and Spain’s Sergio Garcia by three, at the start of the day –– double-bogeyed the par-4 ninth and then bogeyed the par-3 11th.

The final four holes were a virtual victory lap for Singh. Which also could be the case for the last two tournaments of the PGA Tour’s highly-hyped, although not exactly enthusiastically embraced, FedEx Cup.

Despite the Tour’s best marketing efforts and a revamped –– although still complicated –– scoring system that puzzles even the players, the FedEx Cup hasn’t captured the imagination of many golf fans, much less the average sports fan, who is more excited at this time of year about the baseball pennant races, the start of the NFL season and which players he’s going to take in his Fantasy Football draft.

While there’s major money at stake –– the FedEx Cup winner receives a $10 million bonus in addition to the earnings gleaned during the four-tourney playoff series –– the event doesn’t have the stature of one of golf’s four majors.

Although Vijay doesn’t want to count his proverbial chickens before they’re hatched, he probably can start counting his money.

By adding the Deutsche Bank title to his win last weekend at the Barclays Championship, Singh has built up an almost insurmountable points lead heading into next weekend at the BMW Championships in St. Louis and the Tour Championship the last weekend of September in Atlanta.

This was the second time he’s won at TPC Boston. He also came out on top in a head-to-head battle with Tiger in 2004.

“I feel comfortable here,” he said late yesterday afternoon after tapping in a birdie putt to complete a final round of 63 –– 8-under par –– to win by five shots over Weir. “I don’t know what is, but I feel good vibes here.”

More important was how Vijay said he felt on the tees and greens.

“I drove the ball incredibly well this week,” said Singh, who posted scores of 64, 66, and 69 in the first three rounds.

His long and accurate tee shots consistently left him short irons into greens, where he rolled in a variety of putts, both short and long.

After creating early momentum yesterday by chipping in for eagle on the par-5 second, Singh sank birdie putts of less than 10 feet on holes six, seven, and 11. When he dropped bombs he estimated at 30 feet on 13 and 50 feet on 14, the only question left to be answered was not whether he’d win, but by how much.

As it turned out, his margin of victory was the largest in the six-year history of the tournament –– a win as dominating as those recent Ryder Cup victories by Team Europe.

It doesn’t bode well for the U.S. this time around, either. Of the eight players who have earned automatic berths on the American team, only Justin Leonard and Jim Furyk, who tied for seventh, finished among the top 26 in the Deutsche Bank.

The top Euro finisher was Garcia, who tied for fifth with Tim Herron. Most of Garcia’s Ryder Cup teammates were playing in Scotland, in the final event of the European Tour. After playing the final round with Singh, Sergio’s probably looking forward to the easier task of taking on Americans at Valhalla.

“That was awesome to watch,” he said. “To shoot 8-under in these conditions, with the wind blowing, and as firm as the greens were –– it’s just impressive. That’s the only thing you can say.

“When Vijay is playing like this, and rolling the ball like he’s rolling it, it’s hard to get him. We all know how good a ball-striker he is. When he goes on a roll like he’s gone on these past couple of weeks, with his putting and everything, it becomes quite difficult. I don’t see him finishing outside the top 10 in the next two tournaments.”

Singh has struggled with his putting in the past, but he’s never been more confident than he is now.

“I was talking to my caddy,” he said, “and told him: ‘I’m the best putter in the world.’ And he said: ‘You’re darn right you are.’ ”

Right now, he certainly is –– as anyone who watched him win the Deutsche Bank would have to agree.

jdonalds@projo.com