Singapore: The idyllic Serapong Golf Course in Sentosa occupies a special place in Jeev Milkha Singh’s heart. It was here 18 summers ago that he held off a sterling field—boasting Major champions Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els and an up-and-coming Rory McIlroy—to win the Singapore Open, securing that year’s Asian Tour Order of Merit.
Almost two decades later, the memories of that one-stroke triumph are still fresh. Now 54 and going strong on the Legends Tour, the grand old man of Indian golf is still far from retiring. His energy is infectious, his spirit indomitable, and his calendar packed.
Over the past few weeks, Jeev has teed off on Japan’s Senior Tour with considerable success. He made the cut at the International Series Japan earlier this month (April 2-5) and finished T-11 at the Unitex Senior Open (April 11-12) and T-4 at the Nojima Champion Cup (April 16-17), both in Japan, before turning up in Singapore to “relive my glory.”
“I wanted to play (Singapore Open) to relive the memories, and so I’ll give it a go tomorrow (Friday) and if not…that’s fine. I’ll go back to Japan for the seniors tour. I’ll play 13 events on the European Seniors this year and another 12 on Japan Seniors. I will play four events in Asia…I’ll play 30 weeks this year provided the body holds up. It will hold up, I assure you,” he said. “I want to win at least one more Asian Tour title before I turn 60. I’ll give it a shot, why not?”
Jeev’s opening day here was a bit of an anticlimax, though, as he carded a disappointing six-over after his shoulders started to cramp in the stuffy weather.
“A bit of work with the physio and I should be ready to take on these boys again. I keep telling them, either you win or I’ll start winning again,” he laughed, before reminding that he did win the IGPL Invitational in Colombo last December.
Among the younger lot he is referring to is Gaganjeet Bhullar, who sits alongside him in rapt attention. With 11 wins, Bhullar is the most successful Indian on the tour. He is also the last Indian man to win on both the European and the Asian Tour, but with Jeev by his side, the 37-year-old is reluctant to claim any bragging rights.
“Jeev sir, Jyoti (Randhawa) and Arjun (Atwal) showed us what Indian golfers can do and now it’s up to us to carry their legacy,” Bhullar said. He has been around long enough to know the enormity of the task. In fact, Bhullar, then in his second year on the pro tour, was on the ninth hole at Serapong in 2008 when Jeev was mounting his final charge.
“I can’t forget that moment. It was so special to watch an Indian win here in these conditions and in that field,” Bhullar recalled.
And yet, the title that occupies pride of place in Indian golf folklore almost never happened but for a call from a Thai referee who watched the broadcast back home.
Unknown to him, Jeev violated the Preferred Lies rule on Day 1 of the competition, which forbids a player from touching the ball after it’s placed on the fairway. Had he signed the day’s scorecard, he would have faced disqualification.
Realising Jeev hadn’t noticed his inadvertent mistake, the referee—whose name Jeev forgets—called the tournament director and asked him to meet Jeev and impose a one-shot penalty for the rule violation.
In fine form, Jeev overcame the penalty over the course of the competition and went on to win the trophy. “The golfing Gods were with me that week…sometimes, all you need is a stroke of luck to turn things around. I took the penalty and held off a strong challenge from Els to win the trophy,” Jeev said.
In the 18 years since, no Indian has won here, and only part of that can be attributed to the treacherous course. Bhullar and Jeev attribute it to lack of hunger.
“You have to believe that you can win. You have to respect your routines and processes. I never knew which muscles to train, what equipment to use. I’d just run to the gym and train my arms and shoulders. I did whatever I could with whatever little information I had. With all the sports science around, I don’t know what’s stopping our boys to rule the world,” he said. Now that’s a million dollar question.
Indian Scores:
Gaganjeet Bhullar: 67 (-4); T-6
Shaurya Bhattacharya, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Rashid Khan : 70 (-1); T-29
Karandeep Kochhar, Pukhraj Singh Gill : 71(E); T-54
SSP Chawrasia, Sachin Baisoya : 73 (+2); T-91
Shiv Kapur : 75 (+4); T-117
Jeev Milkha Singh : 77 (+6); T-133
Shubham Jaglan : 80 (+9); T-143
