Two professional golfers seem to dominate the golf news these days ? Jeev Milkha Singh and Padraig Harrington.
Jeev is having a brilliant season ? almost a replay of 2006 ? and he carded his best finish in a major championship yet, a tied ninth place finish at the 90th PGA Championship which concluded at Oakland Hills in Michigan last Sunday. He started the week at the top, carding a two-under-par 68 to jointly lead the tournament after the first round.
That made news. The world took notice and all of a sudden everyone wanted to know if he was Vijay Singh?s son, cousin, nephew or any or other distant relative. However, he laughed it off and said that, he was the ?other Singh. One who has an odd swing and a coach who wears a turban.?
The week wore on and he maintained his momentum ? a four-over-par 74 in the second round aid tough playing conditions, which took his total to two-over-par but just three strokes off the lead. The third round got cancelled with a majority of the field still to play and Jeev had to go out and play 35 holes on Sunday. The first 18 were completed in par, leaving him perfectly placed with a shot at the title, but the back nine in the second 18 saw him drop down the leader board.
One-under-par for the first ten holes in the final round, Jeev dropped four shots in the concluding eight holes finish the day with a 73, taking his total for the tournament to five-over-par and a tie for ninth place. However, his major performances have gotten better with each outing and Jeev is currently ranked 59th in the Official World Golf Rankings, getting closer to achieving his target of finishing the year raked amongst the top-50 professionals golfers in the world.
With another tournament to play on the PGA Tour this week ? the Wyndham Championship at Greensboro, North Carolina, Jeev could just better his PGA Championship performance. It is obvious that his game is at the right level and his confidence is high after winning a European Tour title as well as a tournament on the Japanese Tour in the last few weeks. Furthermore, the confidence that comes with the knowledge that he could well have won his first major championship last week, will fuel him to stay more focused and determined to win.
Meanwhile Padraig Harrington won his second major championship of the year, the PGA Championship playing flawless golf just as he did when he won the Open Championship last month. His course management is being compared to that of Tiger Woods who it is said takes no unnecessary risks on the course and makes all the putts that he needs to, hence converting each opportunity to his advantage. Tied alongside Sergio Garcia going into the last ten holes, Harrington made eight single putts in the last eight holes to take the title with a two-stroke advantage. He was composed and confident, showing no hesitation in achieving his target on Sunday. As the commentators correctly said, ?what a golfer he has turned out to be.?
