NEWS
For celebrity sons, it has often been a free choice. A one-way road to whatever they want to be, only one pair of shoes at the start of the road for them to slip into, which usually belongs to their fathers.
Many accept this as intended and pick up their father’s tracks. Others like Jeev Milkha Singh, go their own way and try and match up to the calibre of their parents. Jeev has had two people to match up to – the great Milkha Singh and his mother, Nirmal Kaur who too was the former captain of the Indian Volleyball team.
Unarguably the most successful golfer India has ever produced; Jeev Milkha Singh has over 13 International career wins to his name. Jeev achieved a career-high world ranking of 28 which came in 2009, the highest by an Indian golfer till date.
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Jeev Milkha Singh |
| Age | 47 years |
| Sport Category | Golf |
| Date of Birth | December 15, 1971 |
| Hometown | Chandigarh |
| Height | 6 ft. |
| Spouse | Kudrat Singh |
| Parent | Milkha Singh |
Growing up, Jeev was always involved with sports. He attended St. John’s High School in Chandigarh India and Bishop Cotton High School in Shimla. Growing up in Chandigarh, Jeev accompanied his father to the golf course regularly and picked up the game at a tender age.
The routine was set: school, tuitions and sports. He was 14 when he started going to the gym on alternate days, and by 15 he was introduced to the benefits of yoga. Jeev attended Abilene Christian University in the United States, obtaining a degree in business and international studies in 1996. There he also won the NCAA Division II individual Golf Championship in 1993 in addition to a number of amateur tournaments in the USA.
Jeev turned professional in 1993 and his first professional win was at the 1993 Southern Oklahoma State Open. 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. In 1999, he finished 50th on the European Order of Merit and became only the third golfer to receive Arjuna Award. 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. In 2007 he became the first Indian golfer to participate in the Masters Tournament.
Jeev has played in 3 Masters tournaments, being paired for the first two rounds with Tiger Woods in 2009. In August 2008, Jeev 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.
Jeev 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, Jeev finished the WGC-CA Championship in fourth place, after leading round one.
In July 2012, Jeev beat Francesco Molinari in a sudden-death playoff to win the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, the week before the 2012 Open Championship. The win secured Jeev 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 Jeev’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.
1995 (2) Philippine Classic, Asian Matchplay Championship
1996 (1) Philip Morris Asia Cup
1999 (1) Lexus International
2006 (1) Volvo China Open (co-sanctioned with the European Tour)
2008 (1) Barclays Singapore Open
| 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 |
*T9: Top 10
*CUT: Missed the half-way cut
*T: Tied
| 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 Championships | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 8 |
| Tournament | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accenture Match Play Championship | R64 | R64 | R16 | |||
| Cadillac Championship | T28 | T26 | 4 | |||
| Bridgestone Invitational | T51 | T64 | T67 |
Top 10
Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64: Round in which player lost in match play
T: Tied
Professional golf players on major tours can vary heavily in winnings. Top golfers make Rs 34 crore to Rs 40 crore per year, while unknown players earn much less. On average, PGA (Professional Golfers’ Association) earnings are slightly less than Rs 6 crore, while PGA, Euro and other tours pay a bit less.
For instance, Singh has made near Rs two crore on the PGA tour and Rs 12 crore in the last decade on the Euro tour. According to reports, his estimate for 2018 was Rs 41 crore.
For all his exploits overseas, he’s still not getting anything in terms of endorsements even while cricketers continue to be signed on for every product possible. Jeev’s only Indian endorser thus far has been Hero Honda.
Jeev was born in Chandigarh, India to Indian Olympic athlete Milkha Singh and Nirmal Kaur, former captain of the Indian women’s volleyball team. Jeev has a very close-knit family – he is the youngest of 4 children and is the only boy in his family. He has 3 older sisters – Sonia, Mona and Aleeza. In 2007, Jeev married his childhood friend Kudrat and welcomed his son, Harjai into this world in 2010.
Sporting accomplishments are not uncommon in the Singh family. Jeev’s father, the legendary “Flying Sikh” Milkha Singh, was an Olympic sprinter for India. Jeev is very close to his family and credits his family for all the support they have given him during his career. When he’s not travelling on tour, Jeev resides with his family in Chandigarh and loves to spend time with his son.
In one of the interview when he was asked, in a country like India where cricket is worshipped, do you see golf achieving any level of popularity? He answered, “Yes, in the next decade golf will become as popular as cricket. The media, especially the TV, is playing a big role in popularising the sport. A lot of young people who watch the game on TV have been lured to it. There is also good money in it and young people have started realising that golf can be a profession in itself and one can make a decent living out of it.”
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