Jeev Milkha Singh (born 15 December 1971) is an Indian

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who became the first player from India to join the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

in 1998. He has won four events on the

, becoming the most successful Indian on tour. He was the first Indian golfer to break into the top 100 of the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolli ...

in October 2006. The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

awarded him the civilian honour of

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

in 2007. He is also the recipient of 1999

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

Early life

Singh was born on 15 December 1971 to Indian Olympic athlete

Milkha Singh Milkha Singh (20 November 1929 18 June 2021), also known as The Flying Sikh, was an Indian track and field sprinter who was introduced to the sport while serving in the Indian Army. He is the only athlete to win gold at 400 metres at the A ...

and

Nirmal Saini Nirmal Kaur Saini (8 October 1938 13 June 2021) was an Indian volleyball player and captain of the India women's national volleyball team. She was the wife of athlete Milkha Singh and the mother of Jeev Milkha Singh. Biography She was born on ...

, former captain of the Indian women's volleyball team."Jeev Milkha Singh,"
''the south-asian.com'' June 2002. Retrieved 15 March 2009. Singh attended Bishop Cotton School in

Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the States and union territories of India, northern Indian state of Himachal Prade ...

and later went to

Abilene Christian University Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a Private university, private Churches of Christ, Christian university in Abilene, Texas. It was founded in 1906 as ''Childers Classical Institute''. ACU is one of the largest private universities in the Sout ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, obtaining a degree in business and

international studies International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

"Carry on, Jeev,"
''The Telegraph'' (Calcutta, India), 4 November 2006. Retrieved 22 September 2008. in 1996."Wildcats lead way as LSC honors all-time top performers,"
''ACU Today'', Summer 2007, p.32. Retrieved 22 September 2008. Singh won the NCAA Division II individual golf championship in 1993 in addition to a number of amateur tournaments in the U.S.

Professional career

Singh turned professional in 1993 and his first professional win was at the 1993 Southern Oklahoma State Open, a minor local event. 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 In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

, and joined the tour the following year. He became the third golfer to receive

in 1999. His best season in Europe until 2006 was in 1999, when he came 50th on the Order of Merit. He struggled with injury in the early years of the new millennium. In April 2006 he won the

Volvo China Open The Volvo China Open is a men's golf tournament that has been held annually in China since 1995. The event is organised by the China Golf Association and has been co-sanctioned by the European Tour since 2004. It has also featured as part of the ...

, becoming the second Indian player to win on the European Tour after

Arjun Atwal Arjun Singh Atwal (born 20 March 1973) is an Indian professional golfer who has played on the Asian Tour and the European Tour and is the first player born in India to become a member of, and later win a tournament on the U.S.-based PGA Tour. ...

. 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 The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wor ...

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

. In 2007 he became the first Indian golfer to participate in the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

. In August 2008, Singh 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. Singh finished the 2008 European Tour season ranked 12th on the Order of Merit, and after winning the

Barclays Singapore Open The Singapore Open was a golf tournament in Singapore that was predominantly part of the Asian Tour schedule. The event was held at Sentosa Golf Club since 2005 and since 2017 had been part of the Open Qualifying Series, giving up to four non-ex ...

won his second Order of Merit title on the Asian Tour. In 2009, Singh finished the

WGC-CA Championship The WGC Championship was a professional golf tournament that was held between 1999 and 2021. It was one of the three or four annual World Golf Championships until the number of WGC events was reduced to two following the 2021 season. Under sp ...

in fourth place, after leading round one. Singh played on the Nationwide Tour in 2003. He played on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

from 2007 to 2010, where his best finish was 4th place at the

2009 WGC-CA Championship The 2009 WGC-CA Championship was a golf tournament that was contested from March 12–15 at Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Doral, Florida. It was the tenth WGC-CA Championship tournament, and the second of four World Golf Championships events staged in ...

. Singh received India's fourth highest civil honour, the

, in 2007. On 15 July 2012, Singh beat

Francesco Molinari Francesco Molinari (born 8 November 1982) is an Italian professional golfer. He won the 2018 Open Championship, his first and only major victory, and the first major won by an Italian professional golfer. The Open Championship win capped a su ...

in a sudden-death playoff to win the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, the week before the 2012 Open Championship. The win secured Singh a spot in the 2012 Open Championship at

Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England, is one of the courses in the Open Championship rotation. The Women's British Open has also been played on the course five times: once prior to being designated a major c ...

as a result of finishing as the highest non-qualifier at the event. The win was also Singh's fourth career victory on the

and moved him ahead of

, making him the most successful Indian golfer in European Tour history.

Personal life

Singh lives in Chandigarh with wife Kudrat and their son.

Amateur wins

*1993 NCAA Division II Individual Championship

Professional wins (20)

European Tour wins (4)

''*Note: The 2008 Bank Austria GolfOpen was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.''
¹Co-sanctioned by the

European Tour playoff record (1–1)

Japan Golf Tour wins (4)

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (0–1)

Asian Tour wins (6)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Asian Tour playoff record (1–3)

Korean Tour wins (1)

*1994 Shinhan Donghae Open

Other wins (6)

*1993 (2) Southern Oklahoma State Open, Bukit Kiara Golf Championship (Malaysia) *1994 (1) Northern Indian Open *1995 (3) Thailand PGA Championship, Mahindra BPGC Open (India), Toyota Crown Open (Thailand)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 4 (2002 U.S. Open – 2007 U.S. Open) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

European Tour professional career summary

¹ Not a full Tour member in these years *As of 2013 season

Team appearances

Amateur *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958, it is named after Dwight D. Eisen ...

(representing India):

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

Professional *

Alfred Dunhill Cup The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000, sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was for three-man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championshi ...

(representing India): 1996, 1999 *

Dynasty Cup Dynasty Cup was an East Asian international association football tournament. The tournament was held every 2 or 3 years. It was hosted by Beijing in 1990 and 1992, Hong Kong in 1995, Yokohama and Tokyo in 1998. In 2002 the East Asian Football F ...

(representing Asia): 2003 (winners) *

Royal Trophy The Royal Trophy was a men's professional team golf tournament which was played between 2006 and 2013. The competing teams represented Europe and Asia. Eight man teams played a series of 16 matches involving foursomes, four-ball and singles for the ...

(representing Asia): 2007,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

(winners) *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

(representing India):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

EurAsia Cup The EurAsia Cup was a biennial men's professional team golf tournament between teams representing Europe and Asia. It started in 2014, superseding the Royal Trophy which had been played from 2006 to 2013. It was previously held at the Glenmarie ...

(representing Asia):

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

(non-playing captain)

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Jeev Milkha Indian male golfers Asian Tour golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers Japan Golf Tour golfers Indian Sikhs Abilene Christian University alumni Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Recipients of the Arjuna Award Sportspeople from Chandigarh 1971 births Living people