Jeev Milkha Singh

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Jeev Milkha Singh
Milkha Singh.JPG
Singh at the 2009 Omega European Masters
Personal information
Born15 December 1971 (1971-12-15) (age 52)
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
NationalityIndian
ResidenceChandigarh
SpouseKudrat
Children1
Career
CollegeAbilene Christian University
Turned professional1993
Current tour(s)Asian Tour
Former tour(s)European Tour
PGA Tour
Japan Golf Tour
Professional wins20
Highest rankingTemplate:Infobox golfer/highest ranking
Number of wins by tour
European Tour4
Japan Golf Tour4
Asian Tour6
Other7
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT25: 2008
PGA ChampionshipT9: 2008
U.S. OpenT36: 2007
The Open ChampionshipT69: 2012
Achievements and awards
Arjuna Award1999
Padma Shri2007
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.

Early life[edit]

Singh was born on 15 December 1971[1] to Indian Olympic athlete Milkha Singh and Nirmal Saini, former captain of the Indian women's volleyball team.[2] Singh attended Bishop Cotton School in Shimla and later went to 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.[citation needed]

Professional career[edit]

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

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

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.[citation needed]

Singh received India's fourth highest civil honour, the Padma Shri, in 2007.[8]

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.[9] 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.[citation needed]

Personal life[edit]

Singh lives in Chandigarh with wife Kudrat and their son.[1]

Amateur wins[edit]

Professional wins (20)[edit]

European Tour wins (4)[edit]

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 16 Apr 2006 Volvo China Open1 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

*Note: The 2008 Bank Austria GolfOpen was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.
1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

European Tour playoff record (1–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
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

Japan Golf Tour wins (4)[edit]

Legend
Japan majors (2)
Other Japan Golf Tour (2)
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 (2) 64-70-68-66=268 −12 2 strokes Australia Brendan Jones, New Zealand David Smail,
Japan Taichi Teshima

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1999 Kirin Open South Korea K. J. Choi Lost to par on first extra hole

Asian Tour wins (6)[edit]

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 17 Dec 1995 Philippine Classic 65-73-72-73=283 −5 1 stroke Thailand Preecha Senaprom
2 21 Jan 1996
(1995 season)
Asian Matchplay Championship 3 and 1 Thailand Boonchu Ruangkit
3 4 Sep 1996 Philip Morris Asian Cup 66-66-65-65=262 −26 6 strokes South Korea Kang Wook-soon
4 17 Oct 1999 Lexus International 69-69-65-72=275 −13 Playoff Pakistan Taimur Hussain, Myanmar Zaw Moe
5 16 Apr 2006 Volvo China Open1 72-69-67-70=278 −10 1 stroke Spain Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño
6 16 Nov 2008 Barclays Singapore Open 73-68-67-69=277 −7 1 stroke South Africa Ernie Els, Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington

1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

Asian Tour playoff record (1–3)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 1997 Ericsson Asia-Pacific Masters Australia Darren Cole Lost to par on first extra hole
2 1998 Thailand Open South Africa James Kingston Lost to par on first extra hole
3 1999 Lexus International Pakistan Taimur Hussain, Myanmar Zaw Moe Won with birdie on third extra hole
Hussain eliminated by par on first hole
4 2008 Ballantine's Championship Northern Ireland Graeme McDowell Lost to birdie on third extra hole

Korean Tour wins (1)[edit]

Other wins (6)[edit]

  • 1993 (2) Southern Oklahoma State Open, Bukit Kiara Golf Championship (Malaysia)
  • 1994 (1) Northern Indian Open
  • 1995 (3) Thailand PGA Championship, Mahindra BPGC Open (India), Toyota Crown Open (Thailand)

Results in major championships[edit]

Singh at the 2008 Bank Austria GolfOpen
Tournament 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Masters Tournament T37 T25 CUT
U.S. Open T62 T59 T36 CUT CUT
The Open Championship CUT T69
PGA Championship CUT T9 T67 CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary[edit]

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 5 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 14 8
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (2002 U.S. Open – 2007 U.S. Open)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship[edit]

Tournament 2009
The Players Championship T64

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships[edit]

Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Match Play R64 R64 R16
Championship T28 T26 4
Invitational T51 T64 T67
Champions T33 T23 T46
  Top 10
  Did not play

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

European Tour professional career summary[edit]

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

  • As of 2013 season

Team appearances[edit]

Amateur

Professional

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Jeev Milkha Singh profile". Archived from the original on 6 August 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  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," Archived 29 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine ACU Today, Summer 2007, p.32. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  5. "Gaganjeet Bhullar becomes seventh golfer to receive Arjuna". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. 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". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2007.
  8. "Vikram Seth, Jeev Milkha Singh win Padma Shri". The Times of India. 26 January 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  9. "Phil Mickelson finishes with 74". ESPN Golf. Retrieved 15 July 2012.

External links[edit]