Will Jeev Milkha Singh win?

The future has just begun for the dedicated golfer, says the author.

There is no doubt that he has the capability; there is no doubt that he has the courage; there is no doubt that he has the grit and the mental toughness; there is also no doubt that in the last few months Jeev has started winning at high levels.

In 2006 out of 37 events, he was in the top 10""nineteen times""more than 50 per cent. On the tough Japanese tour, out of 17 starts he had two wins and 12 top ten finishes. Thereafter he won the Volvo Masters. At earnings of $2.7 million , he improved his world ranking to 37. He is only 35 years old which may be old for many sports, but not for golf as can be evidenced from a Vijay Singh who is a multiple event winner with three majors (including the Masters), all won after the age of 35. Jack Nicklaus won his sixth Masters at the age of 46 and many other excellent players over the age of 40 are knocking at the doors today.

Nobody expected Jeev to win the Volvo Masters and yet he did, against the toughest competition in Europe. Nobody expects Jeev to win the Masters on his first time out and yet he may surprise us as, in the history of the Masters, there have been three first time winners. Will he be the fourth? With his recent record as above, he could well surprise us all, including, possibly, himself.

This famous son of the legendary Milkha Singh (the Flying Sikh) whose 400 meters speed record still stands in India after more than 40 years, is the first Indian to ever play in the Masters. Jeev has considerable international experience but it could be that he gets overawed by the fantastic aura that envelopes the Masters. He qualified for the European tour in 1997, the Japanese tour in 2001 and has played in the US Open.

On the Japanese tour he had the second-best scoring average at 69.72 per round, the sixth- best putting average at 1.75 putts per hole, the second- best greens in regulation and the highest birdie average. There must have been some bogies as well otherwise he would have won the lot!

Can you imagine and hope that he keeps his bogie levels down and achieves a low scoring average in each of the four rounds ? Can you visualise him walking down the closing holes on the final day with Tiger Woods, or any one else? Can you imagine him feeling the tremendous pressure from the event itself, from his family, from his golfing buddies and from the whole golfing "nation" of India solidly rooting for him? The answer could well dictate the outcome

Jeev won his golfing spurs in Chandigarh as a young lad and then graduated to Delhi, the whole of India, Asia, Europe and the rest of the world. He came close to winning the Honda Siel PGA Championship of India several times. In 2006 Jeev was the Order of Merit winner on the Asian tour, was awarded the Player's Player of the Year Award and won the UBS Special Achievement Award.

Having played a couple of pro-ams with him and having observed him and his behaviour in many settings (Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews, Scotland, Dunhill Open in South Africa including dinner at our home, and many other settings in the East and in India), his behaviour typifies his upbringing ""conservative, courteous, considerate, warm"" and above all dedicated to the cause. Truly, he is a path breaker for Indian professional Golf.

With Jeev, none of the flaunting of success as there is in cricket; not for him the inane television commercials and consequential crores earned for jobs poorly done; no jingoistic beating of the chest as though it were a war drum. With Jeev it is an extremely patient and mentally tough approach to a game where every shot involves the mind, body and soul as in no other game or sport.

It is well known that hitting a perfectly still ball is infinitely tougher than hitting a moving one. Jeev fully commits to the shot irrespective of the outcome. Should the outcome be adverse, the next shot is again fully committed to. With his Paladin looks, he is indeed a likely Champion!

Let all us Indians raise a glass to Jeev and send out our most powerful, positive energies to him, to begin to realise his future in this great game of golf in the US, with a win at the Masters.

His future has just begun.