By his own admission, Jeev Milkha Singh has not had a great 2017. He has made the cut only four times from 13 appearances on the Asian and European Tours, his best finish a tied 22nd at the jointly-sanctioned ISPS Handa World Super 6 in Perth in February. The 45-year-old is keen to make a fresh start to the second half of the season, though, when the TAKE Solutions Masters – a US$300,000 Asian Tour event – begins at the Karnataka Golf Association here on Thursday.
“This year has been slow for me, nothing great,” he said on Monday. “I had just one good round, in the Thailand Open, where I shot a 64. That was a positive. It's going to be a long season starting now. After this week, we play in Fiji. Then from September, there's a tournament nearly every week. A jump-start is needed from my side. It's just a matter of putting four rounds together and trusting myself. I'm going to keep trying and one week when it clicks, everything will fall in place.”
Jeev's last victory came at the Scottish Open in 2012. His best year since has been 2016, when he managed three top-10 finishes, including second place at the Indonesia Open. “After that win, I have suffered a lot of injuries,” he said. “My finger was out...your swing changes and then it gets you down mentally. Your swing changes because you're trying to compensate for the injury and then you lose confidence in whatever you're doing. It's like a vicious circle. Now I'm just going back to what makes me feel good, and what makes me hit good shots. Every player has to go through injuries, has to go through the bad times. It's all about trust and the belief system. If those two things are maintained under pressure, that's what is going to make you win tournaments.”
KGA ready as Asian Tour returns
The Karnataka Golf Association course has undergone much work to be ready for this week's TAKE Solutions Masters, the first Asian Tour event at the venue since the Indian Open in 2012. “KGA has always been good but for this event we've really spruced it up,” said KGA President Sandeep Madhavan. “We have put in a lot of effort over the last one month. The bunkers were the only thing they (Asian Tour officials) were not happy with because the ball was plugging and they wanted it to drop. We've done that and now the course is in top class condition. They wanted the rough to be up to a particular level and that has been done too. Our members played a week back and could not manage the good scores they usually do.”
Par will be 71 this week, with the first hole – ordinarily a par four – shortened to a par-three. Total yardage has consequently fallen by 160 yards to 7060.
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