With the Masters taking place next week, we caught up with India’s Jeev Milkha Singh to get his thoughts on the event that he, so memorably, played in on three successive occasions starting 2007. Singh is currently in Japan preparing for the Japan PGA tests, which will ultimately allow him to play on the Japan Seniors Tour when he turns 50 in December next year, but he had plenty of time to talk about his incredible memories of Augusta.
At the peak of his powers, just over a decade ago, Jeev Milkha Singh, was winning tournaments all over the world but there was one tournament he played in, which although he did not win, that he loved the most: The Masters tournament.
“Talking about the US Masters. For me personally it is my favourite Major championship,” says the Indian star, the winner of six titles on the Asian Tour and two Order of Merit crowns.
“As a kid from the town of Chandigarh, in India, growing up I used to wait for the cassettes to come back. I was about 10 years old and the cassettes would come back after a month. And I used to do anything to get those tapes to watch the Masters. And I used to beg people and say ‘please when you are done, can I have a look at it’.”
He says he would beg his father – national hero and former athletics star Milkha Singh, also known as ‘The Flying Sikh’ – to buy a video recorder so he could watch at home.
“And after watching I used to go to the golf course and say to my caddie: ‘you know what, this is Amen Corner, and this putt is to win the Masters’, stuff like that. I was a kid and mentally playing the Masters. So that is the background to my love of the event.”
Fast forward some 30 years and the prince of golf in India, thanks to regularly finishing in the top-50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, is driving up Magnolia Lane – the famous driveway that leads up to Augusta Golf Club – to play in the US Masters for the first time.
He says: “In 2007 I went into the tournament with a lot of confidence. I had been working hard on my game. And when I got there I got goose bumps. I still remember when I drove up Magnolia Lane, I was so excited and I had tears in my eyes.”
And, over a magical first few hours he birdied three, six and eight to take the lead in what is traditionally the first Major of the year.
“I had the same feeling I had when I won the Volvo Masters in Spain the year before. I got it done there and I thought I might as well keep it going here at Augusta. But I got ahead of myself and got really excited because of the history behind it. But I had a great week and enjoyed myself. Played a lot of practice rounds. I was just living the moment,” said Singh.
He finished in tie for 37th after posting a costly seven-over-par 79 on Sunday, caused by a calamitous start,
He made an expensive eight on the first hole, playing with Vijay Singh from Fiji.
“I had never carried a lob wedge up until that point but you have to have a lob wedge playing the Masters. On that first hole, when I had the eight, I could not stop the ball on the green. I was two short of the green on the right and the pin was close to the right side and I tried to hit a flop shot, I missed it, it came back, then I went again. Then it was just ping pong from one side to the other. After that experience I put a lob wedge in my bag.”
He says Augusta played different every year he played it and it was the only Major that had done that. And even though it’s the only Major where you play the same course every year you never get bored playing because it is so exciting.
The difference in elevation on the course is also overwhelming when you arrive there for the first time, he says.
“The 10th hole really surprised me. It is at least 200 to 230 yards straight down! People don’t realize it. It is so hilly. And number eight, it is straight up the hill. And number two is straight down,” adds Singh.
He produced his best performance in 2008, finishing in a tie for 25th while he missed the cut the following year by a single stroke.
AUGUSTA, GA – APRIL 09: Tiger Woods (R) waits with Jeev Milkha Singh of India in the 18th fairway during the first round of the 2009 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 9, 2009 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
That third and final year of his participation was arguably the most exciting as he was paired with Americans Tiger Woods and Stewart Cink for the first two days.
Woods had already won the tournament four times up until that point and enormous crowds followed their group.
“I was nervous on the tee. But I was joking with Tiger and said there are going to be a lot of Indians with us today. He took it really well and when we walked down the first hole, he said: ‘you know what, I see a lot of Indians walking here man’. It was funny, it broke the ice. It was great,” added Singh.
Singh said Woods was really supportive over the two days, especially when he needed to make birdie on 18 to have a chance of making the cut.
AUGUSTA, GA – APRIL 10: (L-R) Caddie Janet Squire, Jeev Milkha Singh of India, Tiger Woods and caddie Steve Williams walk together down the 13th fairway during the second round of the 2009 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 10, 2009 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
“Tiger said to me: ‘Come on Jeev, get this done’. I hit a fabulous approach into 10 feet and made the putt but I just missed the cut by one, but overall the experience was priceless,” commented Singh.
That year, he also made an eagle on the 13th on the first day and was awarded a beer mug.
“I am not a beer drinker but I still have it, it is another wonderful memory. I remember the first year I went to the pro shop and picked up jumpers, wine glasses, whisky glasses, and when I have a drink at home I pour myself a drink in the Masters glass and I cherish it,” adds Singh.
Singh is eagerly anticipating next week’s event and says the beauty of Augusta is that the course requires a lot of imagination and feel, and that you have to be smart aggressive.
As for who he sees prevailing on the famous back nine on Sunday and overcoming Amen Corner.
He says: “Everybody is talking about Bryson Dechambeau, he is hitting it so far, but let’s see what happens. Hopefully Tiger does well, I will always pull for Tiger.”
AUGUSTA, GA – APRIL 04: Jeev Milkha Singh of India reacts to a shot on the 16th hole during the third practice day prior to the start of The Masters at the Augusta National Golf Club on April 4, 2007 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
