Jeev Milkha Singh

For his father, the athlete also known as the "Flying Sikh", see Milkha Singh.
Jeev Milkha Singh
 Golfer 

Singh at the 2009 Omega European Masters
Personal information
Full name Jeev Milkha Singh
Born (1971-12-15) 15 December 1971
Chandigarh, India
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight 165 lb (75 kg; 11.8 st)
Nationality  India
Residence Chandigarh, India
Spouse Kudrat (m. 2008)
Children Harjai (b. 2010)
Career
College Abilene Christian University
Turned professional 1993
Current tour(s) European Tour
Asian Tour
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
Professional wins 20
Number of wins by tour
European Tour 4
Japan Golf Tour 4
Asian Tour 6
Other 7
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament T25: 2008
U.S. Open T36: 2007
The Open Championship T69: 2012
PGA Championship T9: 2008
Achievements and awards
Arjuna Award 1999
Padma Shri 2007
Asian Tour
Order of Merit
2006, 2008

Jeev Milkha Singh (born 15 December 1971) is an Indian professional golfer who became the first player from India to join the European Tour in 1998. He has won four events on the European Tour, becoming the most successful Indian on tour. He was the first Indian golfer to break into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking in October 2006. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2007.[1]

Early life

Singh was born in Chandigarh, India to Indian Olympic athlete Milkha Singh and Nirmal Kaur, former captain of the Indian women's volleyball team.[2] Singh attended Abilene Christian University in the United States, obtaining a degree in business and international studies[3] in 1996.[4]

Singh won the NCAA Division II individual golf championship in 1993 in addition to a number of amateur tournaments in the U.S.

Professional career

Singh turned professional in 1993 and his first professional win was at the 1993 Southern Oklahoma State Open, a minor local event. He played mainly in Asia, where he was a regular winner in the mid-1990s. In 1997 he finished seventh at the European Tour qualifying school, and joined the tour the following year.

He became the third golfer to receive Arjuna Award in 1999.[5]

His best season in Europe until 2006 was in 1999, when he came 50th on the Order of Merit. He struggled with injury in the early years of the new millennium. In April 2006 he won the Volvo China Open, becoming the second Indian player to win on the European Tour after Arjun Atwal. He also won the season ending Volvo Masters, which elevated him to a final position of 16th on the Order of Merit. He finished 2006 as the winner of the Asian Tour Order of Merit and capped his season with a pair of back to back wins in Japan to become the first Indian to make the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.[6] In 2007 he became the first Indian golfer to participate in the Masters Tournament.[7] In August 2008, Singh achieved the highest ranking for an Indian in any major event at the 2008 PGA Championship in Oakland Hills, finishing at T9, making him arguably India's best golfer ever.

Singh finished the 2008 European Tour season ranked 12th on the Order of Merit, and after winning the Barclays Singapore Open won his second Order of Merit title on the Asian Tour.

In 2009, Singh finished the WGC-CA Championship in fourth place, after leading round one.

Singh played on the Nationwide Tour in 2003. He played on the PGA Tour from 2007 to 2010, where his best finish was 4th place at the 2009 WGC-CA Championship.

Singh received India's fourth highest civil honour, the Padma Shri, in 2007.

On 15 July 2012, Singh beat Francesco Molinari in a sudden-death playoff to win the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, the week before the 2012 Open Championship.[8] The win secured Singh a spot in the 2012 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club as a result of finishing as the highest non-qualifier at the event. The win was also Singh's fourth career victory on the European Tour and moved him ahead of Arjun Atwal, making him the most successful Indian golfer in European Tour history.

Personal life

Singh lives in Chandigarh with wife Kudrat and their son Harjai.[9]

Amateur wins (1)

Professional wins (20)

European Tour wins (4)

Singh at the Austrian Open 2008
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin
of victory
Runner(s)-up
1 16 Apr 2006 Volvo China Open 72-69-67-70=278 −10 1 stroke Spain Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño
2 29 Oct 2006 Volvo Masters 71-71-68-72=282 −2 1 stroke England Luke Donald, Spain Sergio García,
Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington
3 8 Jun 2008 Bank Austria GolfOpen 64-63-71=198 −15 1 stroke England Simon Wakefield
4 15 Jul 2012 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open 66-70-68-67=271 −17 Playoff Italy Francesco Molinari

European Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2008 Ballantine's Championship Northern Ireland Graeme McDowell Lost to birdie on third extra hole
2 2012 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open Italy Francesco Molinari Won with birdie on first extra hole

Asian Tour wins (6)

Japan Golf Tour wins (4)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin
of victory
Runner(s)-up
1 26 Nov 2006 Casio World Open 66-69-69-68=272 −16 2 strokes New Zealand David Smail
2 3 Dec 2006 Golf Nippon Series JT Cup 67-65-67-70=269 −11 1 stroke Japan Nobuhiro Masuda
3 27 Jul 2008 Nagashima Shigeo Invitational Sega Sammy Cup 67-74-68-66=275 −13 2 strokes Japan Sushi Ishigaki
4 7 Dec 2008 Golf Nippon Series JT Cup 64-70-68-66=268 −12 2 strokes Australia Brendan Jones, New Zealand David Smail,
Japan Taichi Teshima

Other wins (7)

Results in major championships

Tournament 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T37 T25 CUT DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open T62 DNP DNP DNP T59 T36 DNP CUT DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP T69
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT T9 T67 DNP DNP CUT

DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 2
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 2
Totals 0 0 0 0 1 2 13 8

Results in World Golf Championship events

Tournament200720082009201020112012
Accenture Match Play Championship R64 DNP R64 R16 DNP DNP
Cadillac Championship T28 T26 4 DNP DNP DNP
Bridgestone Invitational T51 DNP T64 DNP DNP T67
HSBC Champions T33 DNP T23 T46

DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top 10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

European Tour professional career summary

Year Starts Cuts Made Wins 2nd 3rd Top 10 Top 25 Earnings (€) Money list rank
1994 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 n/a1
1995 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4,200 n/a1
1996 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 6,944 n/a1
1997 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 8,689 n/a1
1998 22 11 0 0 0 1 5 83,823 104
1999 24 15 0 1 1 2 8 222,783 50
2000 13 5 0 0 0 2 3 68,199 145
2001 17 10 0 0 0 2 4 174,011 108
2002 20 8 0 0 0 1 2 83,347 152
2003 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1,773 n/a1
2004 5 3 0 0 0 1 1 28,817 n/a1
2005 7 5 0 0 0 1 2 42,845 n/a1
2006 17 11 2 0 0 4 8 1,173,177 16
2007 31 26 0 0 1 1 9 717,790 46
2008 26 20 1 2 0 8 15 1,218,209 12
2009 22 17 0 0 0 3 8 847,844 34
2010 15 10 0 0 0 2 7 393,449 74
2011 30 17 0 0 0 2 8 329,262 94
2012 25 19 1 0 0 2 6 926,062 32
2013 23 6 0 0 0 1 5 156,643 133
Total* 304 190 4 3 2 33 91 6,487,987 62

1 Not a full Tour member in these years

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References

  1. "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  2. "Jeev Milkha Singh," the south-asian.com June 2002. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  3. "Carry on, Jeev," The Telegraph (Calcutta, India), 4 November 2006. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  4. "Wildcats lead way as LSC honors all-time top performers," ACU Today, Summer 2007, p.32. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  5. "Gaganjeet Bhullar becomes seventh golfer to receive Arjuna". The Times Of India. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  6. Punjab Golf Association confers award on Jeev Milkha Singh, zeenews.com, 31 December 2006.
  7. Record 34 European Tour Members Invited to Augusta
  8. "Phil Mickelson finishes with 74". ESPN Golf. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  9. "Jeev Milkha Singh profile". Retrieved 12 July 2013.

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