Kuala Lumpur:
Watching old videos of his finest two seasons has given Indian golfing star Jeev Milkha Singh hope of reliving his glory days in the inaugural USD 3 million Maybank Championship Malaysia, starting here tomorrow.
The double Asian Tour Order of Merit champion tees up in the tournament, sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour, confident that he is on track to return to his best form.
“I haven’t played well in my last two tournaments,” admitted Jeev.
“(But) I found something in Dubai. I’m feeling really confident and feel my game is coming around and that I’ll have a good year ahead.
“I struggled the last three years. I decided to look at some things and went back to when I was playing my best golf in 2006 and 2008 (when he was Asian Tour number one), looked at a lot of videos, the way I swung the club. I’m trying to go back to that and remember that, and I’m feeling better with my swing. I’m looking forward to this week.”
After winning the Scottish Open in 2012, Jeev, who was captain of the recent EurAsia Cup where Team Asia lost to Europe, has fallen on tough times. Injuries have not helped either but the 44-year-old believes he still has 10 years of top golf left in his body.
“For sure, I just feel I have a lot of golf left and I like to play in the Seniors Tour also. I’ve got a goal set that I want to win again. The last three years, a lot of things have been said that when a player goes down, it’s tough to come back. For me personally, I want to win again to prove something to myself,” said Jeev, whose father Milkha Singh was a top Olympic runner.
“Because of the injury in my right shoulder (previously), I started doing something in my swing which wasn’t working for me. I think the most important thing for a golfer is he needs to know where the club is when he takes it back. For the last few years, I didn’t know where it was and it was too quick.
“The best golf I played with was when I know where the club is and when it comes back, it comes back square to the ball. So, I’ve got something which I’ve tried in Dubai in the last round. I felt really good, I hit a lot of golf shots which felt like the way I used to hit it. It’s a matter of time when everything clicks. I’ve been working on the right stuff. Like I said, I will win this year,” said Jeev.
