2006 AsianTour: VOLVO MASTERS Of ASIA: Jeev in Contention!

Coverage of Indian golfers in the Asian and the JPGA

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jaydeep
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Re: 2006 AsianTour: VOLVO MASTERS Of ASIA: Jeev in Contention!

Post by jaydeep »

At Volvo Masters of Asia, Bangkok, Thailand - Final Standing

T6 Jeev Milkha SINGH 72 66 72 72 -6 $18,441.00
T10 S.S.P. CHOWRASIA 70 70 71 72 -5 $12,383.00
T15 Jyoti RANDHAWA 72 69 73 72 -2 $9,910.00
T36 Shiv KAPUR 72 69 74 77 +4 $5,165.00
42 Amandeep JOHL 70 77 72 76 +6 $4,515.00
49 Gaurav GHEI 73 76 73 76 +10 $3,605.00
T57 Rahil GANGJEE 79 72 73 84 +20 $2,923.00

Still creditable performance by Jeev to gained another top 10 finish ... This was his 40th tournament of the year ... So now he will definetly taking break from golf to re-energise himself for next season.

SSP's top 10 finish also heartening ... He is on right track and we definetly see more from him in APGA season 2007.

Jaydeep.
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Re: 2006 AsianTour: VOLVO MASTERS Of ASIA: Jeev in Contention!

Post by PKBasu »

Jeev really had a splendid year, and he has done very little wrong in the past 8 months -- since ending his title drought at the Volvo China Open. His reward is to finish 2006 as the 37th-ranked golfer in the world. He really should be a hero in India on par with Sania Mirza now -- and only slightly below the level of adulation that Vijay Amritraj received in his prime.

If the golf rankings were really based on annual performance, I think Jeev would be ranked in the top-15 in the world -- and perhaps even in the top-10 -- for 2006. Of course the rankings are based on performances over a 2-year period, but if he can sustain this year's form Jeev should be in the top-20 by the second half of 2007.
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Re: 2006 AsianTour: VOLVO MASTERS Of ASIA: Jeev in Contention!

Post by BSharma »

PKBasu wrote: Jeev really had a splendid year, and he has done very little wrong in the past 8 months -- since ending his title drought at the Volvo China Open. His reward is to finish 2006 as the 37th-ranked golfer in the world. He really should be a hero in India on par with Sania Mirza now -- and only slightly below the level of adulation that Vijay Amritraj received in his prime...
I will not try to change PKB’s opinion because all of us are entitled to one, but I feel that Jeev’s performance in 2006 ranks him higher as a hero than Sania Mirza.  What Sania did in 2005 was unprecedented in Indian women’s tennis and Jeev Milkha Singh has been as much of a pioneer, if not more, in golf in India.  A mark of a true champion is the ability to win tournaments of special repute and that is why Grand Slams, season ending Sony Ericsson Championship and certain Tier I & II WTA tournaments in women’s tennis, and Major Championships, WGCs, Players Championship, HSBC Championship, season ending tournaments such as PGA Tour Championship, EPGA Tour Volvo Masters Championship and JPGA Golf Nippon Series in golf are considered more important by players, sports writers and sports historians. 

Many people in India will not realize the significance of Jeev’s victories at Volvo Masters in Spain and at Golf Nippon Series in Japan, and I do not envy the adulation that Sania receives in India (no fault of hers), but IMHO Jeev’s achievements in 2006 exceed those of any Indian sports star in 2005.

I have enjoyed the successes of Sania and Jeev, and I have no problem if a person considers one sports star to be a bigger hero than the other.  All I wanted to share was my opinion about the two Indian stars.  :D
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Re: 2006 AsianTour: VOLVO MASTERS Of ASIA: Jeev in Contention!

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No problems with your opinion, Bhushan, which only differs from my expressed view by a slight shade. Sania ended last year ranked 31 in the world in her chosen profession, Jeev has ended this year with a ranking of 37. The difference is that in golf there was another Indian golfer who had indeed cracked the top-100 before Jeev -- so his pioneering role was that much less. While winning at Valderrama was probably bigger than anything Sania has achieved so far, there are more golf tournaments around the world that make it difficult to compare with winning titles on the WTA tour. Arguably, the (US) PGA tour is the equivalent of the WTA while the other tours are a slight notch below (so Jeev may have won the equivalent of the biggest Tier-II WTA event of the year, and the biggest Tier-III one at the Casio Open, etc., which makes it a bigger year for him than anything that a woman tennis player from India has ever achieved). Sania was truly a pioneer in every sense. Before her, no Indian player had made it to the top-200 (Shikha made it as an American before switching back to India colours) leave alone the top-100.

I have said on another thread that Jeev would be ranked in the top-20 or perhaps even the top-15 in the world if golf rankings were based on a year's performance (like in tennis) rather than the last two years' performances. In that sense, Jeev this year has achieved what Vijay achieved at the peak of his career. But the golf rankings will certainly reflect this fact better by the middle of next year if Jeev sustains his form anyway. Jeev is indeed getting recognition around India -- he was felicitated a couple of days ago by Army chief Gen. JJ Singh, for instance -- but golf is not yet a popular sport in India (outside a small elite), so he will not necessarily get the adulation that Sania is receiving. He is probably getting as much attention as Ramesh Krishnan received in his prime, although Ramesh (quarter-finalist -- or a top-8 finisher -- at 3 majors) probably achieved more than Jeev has done so far. 
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