Vijay Singh thread

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 12:38 am

Here is a link to another great article about Vijay. What I like about it is that it does not discuss the same old story.

There are some very important points that Vijay talks about, and they can be applied to any sport. I wish that the Indian junior and senior players will listen to what Vijay has to say and implement some of his ideas in their daily practices.

Here are some excerpts but read the entire article. I hope the link remains active for a long time.

"I dropped out of school when I was 16 because I wanted to play golf. I felt like I had one chance to do something, and that was golf."

"Even when I didn't have any money, I didn't worry about how much this shot or this putt means. I always worried about it afterward, but not during. All my life, that is something I had that not too many people have."

"I pretty much have always played with peace -- with not a lot of interference in my head."

"I've worked with a lot of instructors over the years. What I kind of do is borrow their minds for a little while. ..... Then I take what is good for me and discard the rest. I always tell other players, even great players, when you take a lesson, don't take everything they give you. Take what is good. To do that, you have to know yourself."

"I always want to take that one extra step. Even now, I'm still improving. The thing is to never let yourself slip more than one or two steps. You slip more than two steps, then it takes four steps to get back to the top. Because everyone else is climbing. That's what happened to Seve, who was like God on the golf course when I was playing the European Tour. He was probably the best player of the whole lot the last 25 years. But he let himself fall too far behind, and then it was just too much work to catch up and the load got too heavy and he kept slipping back down. I will not let myself take a step backward. The way I do that is to have a clear mind, and to keep fixing it on the range. And I have the means and the ability and the desire to do that.

If I don't work hard, I feel I'm missing something. It's what I believe in. Working hard always pays off."
The Me You Don't Know. The world's No. 1-ranked player, Vijay Singh, opens up about his roots, his swing and his killer calm

Sandeep · Post by **Sandeep** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 1:44 am

A beautiful piece of arrticle. He appears to be very philosophical.

Kumar · Post by **Kumar** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 5:27 am

Another article (it is very difficult to judge, but i guess it is favorable) on VJ,
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/w ... index.html

My first reaction would be a firm no, based mostly on Vijay's putting. It cost him the tournament at Doral (where he hit the ball just as good as Phil or Tiger, but made nothing), and again at the Honda (he couldn't blame a Mickelson spike mark for that missed playoff two-footer).

Some tongue in cheek remarks from the author regd. spike marks...

I think VJ's putting is really worrying me... If he can putt anywhere as decent as top 30 in the world.. he can easily get back to world no.1...

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:19 am

When the top player starts slipping then everyone wants to take some pot shots. Sachin in India is getting a bigger dose from the press right now.

Goosen recently said that women should not be allowed at US Open (comment was directed mainly at Annika S.) and how many press people jumped on it? None that I know of. Guess what would have been the headlines in the golf section if Vijay has said the same?

If Vijay is at peace then I am at peace.

Kumar · Post by **Kumar** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:31 pm

REgd. VJ's comments on Annika, I saw lot of articles in web where they said that most of the PGA members feel that way about Annika.. But none were stupid to come out and say it out loud..

forpar · Post by **forpar** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:01 pm

Another fact about Vijay - he also worked as a bouncer in some night club somewhere(in europe i think).
I dont remember the specifics but i remember him joking about bouncing a heckler coz he has experience doing it

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:18 pm

Forpar,

Vijay worked as a bouncer in UK to earn extra money and he does not hide this fact.

I agree with Kumar the Vijay sometimes opens his mouth when he should keep it shut.

Many PGA golfers privately agreed with Vijay about Annika S. but they kept their thoughts to themselves, and stayed out of trouble with the press.

But Goosen spoke openly about keeping women out of PGA tournaments and the press people are treating him with kid gloves. Why?

Vijay got bad press when he complained about Phil's spike marks. Phil had longer spikes than regular spikes on his shoes, the conditions were wet, and his habit of looking at his putt from all angles (his new style of play) was leaving marks on the putting green. The only players who were getting affected were the golfers in the last group (Vijay being one of them) because Phil was in the second last group. Vijay could only complain to the Tour officials because he could not run up to Phil and tell him to be more careful about the spike marks.

Who did the press blame for this episode? Vijay Singh.

If Vijay had made the spike marks then the press would have written at length about his "longer" spikes causing damage to the putting green.

forpar · Post by **forpar** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:44 pm

yeah that spike marks thing was stupid. But I think every tour member supported Vijay's complaint saying he was protecting the field and I feel that's exactly what he did.
except david toms who said it will irritate him if someone wud say something to him in the middle of the round. But he was not the victim there so he wud not understand the pain. vijay was playing behind phil's group for a couple of days.
And Phil was also okay with it too. The press was looking for something to report.

Does anyone know about vijay's episode of reporting the score wrong? and getting penalised for that in the past?

ajay · Post by **ajay** » Fri May 13, 2005 3:20 am

Here is an article on Vijay, which I saw few days back and I forgot to mention it here.

forpar · Post by **forpar** » Fri May 13, 2005 2:08 pm

Nice article. I think Vijay doesn't care about any of those things anymore.
When he is not getting his due while dominating the field almost every week, why should he care? It may not impress some people but I guess he is not motivated to impress anyone now except winning.

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Fri May 13, 2005 4:01 pm

I agree, forpar.

Kumar · Post by **Kumar** » Sat May 14, 2005 4:10 am

Singh has never spoken publicly about this, but he surely felt snubbed at the Bay Hill Invitational two months ago when Woods, Els and Goosen were grouped together the first two rounds, a draw that didn't happen by accident. Even more peculiar is that tournament host Arnold Palmer never mentioned Singh once during his news conference when the King was asked to compare this crop of stars with the ``Big Three'' from his generation.

I never saw that in any other website? Interesting observation..

I don't think Tiger or vijay likes to be paired together (they were paired in PGA championship last year as they were former winners i presume).. But rarely we see them paired together..

As to Goosen's remark, here is a article,
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/g ... na.goosen/

U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen fanned the flames of the debate on women entering men's golf events on Wednesday by saying female players should be forced to qualify.

But VJ's quote was little more acerbic,

What is she going to prove by playing? It's ridiculous. She's the best woman golfer in the world, and I want to emphasize 'woman.' We have our tour for men, and they have their tour. She's taking a spot from someone in the field. "

He wants to her miss the cut next week in the Colonial.

And on the odd chance that he is paired with her, Singh says he won't play.

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/story?id=1552644

In nutshell while Goosen comes off smooth, VJ's words are challenging and little sharp...

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Sun May 15, 2005 1:51 am

In nutshell while Goosen comes off smooth, VJ's words are challenging and little sharp...

Very well said, Kumar.

Kumar · Post by **Kumar** » Sun May 15, 2005 10:29 pm

Thanks Bhushan,

Looks like VJ will still get to be No.1 , eventhough he missed out this time..

http://www.pgatour.com/story/8475436

Singh needed to finish alone in third to replace Tiger Woods at No. 1 in the world, although he likely will get there over the next two weeks when neither are playing.

[/quote]

forpar · Post by **forpar** » Mon May 16, 2005 3:52 pm

I disagree with Singh's comments about women playing in men's events.

If they are good enough, there shouldn't be a separation in terms of sex in my mind. Annika is obviously far better than most of the men playing PGA tour. she may not hit as far as Tiger or Vijay but she hits more greens than both of them. She is playing the same game..same tees..same rules. why this discrimination?

Its simple. If anyone is good enough, they shud play. Be it Annika or Michelle or anyone else.