Family tragedy, family support play huge roles in Singh's success

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Jeev Milkha Singh's first-round 65 was good enough to make even his athletic parents proud.

DORAL, Fla. -- It was just supposed to be a routine check-up.

The ultrasound last December, though, had revealed the devastating news that, 20 weeks into their first pregnancy, the baby boy Jeev Milkha Singh's wife, Kudrat, was carrying had no heartbeat.

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On that Wednesday night after she delivered their stillborn child, Kudrat was talking with her husband. She was still drowsy from the medication but his bride of less than a year knew what she wanted.

"She said that I would like you to play this week," Singh recalled.

So the next morning, he went straight to Tokyo's Yomiuri Country Club. Singh showered, shaved and teed it up in the first round of the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup. On Sunday, he was hoisting the trophy symbolic of his 15th victory worldwide.

"Somebody was looking out for me," Singh said. "I don't know how that happened. For both of us, that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. It was a very emotional week."

The 37-year-old from Chandigarh, India, was enormously patient as he relived that horribly sad chapter of his life for two different reporters on Thursday after shooting a 65 that left him tied for the lead at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship.

Singh took a month off after that bittersweet victory and returned to competition when the European Tour began its swing through the Middle East. He finished 26th or better in his next three starts before coming to the United States to play seven times in the 11 weeks leading up to THE PLAYERS Championship.

Thursday's 65 on Doral's Blue Monster, a course Singh acknowledges suits his eye, has him in great company -- tied with two major champions in Retief Goosen and Phil Mickelson, as well as Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng. It's his best round of the season and included one nine-hole stretch in which he made an eye-popping seven birdies.

"It gives me a lot of confidence," Singh said. "It gives me the trust that I can do well at the world stage. I've won on every tour, nearly, in the world. I've won in Europe, I've won in Asia, I've won in Japan. It would be nice to win in the U.S., too."

The well-traveled Singh, who maintains residences in London as well as in Chandigarh, where he was born, learned to play golf when he was 8 years old and tagged along with his father to a course near their house.

"There were about five of us I think at that same age playing golf, and I said, I would like to play this game, too, and it was a good four-ball," Singh recalled. "I just loved it after that basically. We used to play for a Coke or something on the golf course, and putt on the putting green, too."

The elder Singh, now in his eighth decade and still playing 18 holes a day, was actually better known for his exploits on the track. Milkha Singh competed for India in the 400 meters at the 1960 and '64 Olympics. Nicknamed "The Flying Sikh," he narrowly missed a bronze medal in Rome and remains one of India's most revered sportsmen.

"He told me, 'Jeev, if you want to be one of the good players in the world, you need to work hard and be disciplined,'" Singh said with a smile. "That's the way it works, because that's what I've done.

"He always said, 'No pain, no gain.' He still says that. ... He was telling me this week. He says, 'What happened in the (Accenture) Match Play (Championship where Singh lost in the first round)? You need to work harder.' But that's Dad."

Singh's mother, Nirmal Kaur, was an athlete, too, and once served as captain of India's national volleyball team. So both his parents understood his desire to turn pro after two All-American seasons at Abilene Christian, even if some of the friends and relatives didn't.

"In India, the emphasis is a lot on education," explained Singh, who won the 1991 NCAA Division II title. "Basically you become a doctor and you join the civil service or become an engineer.

"Every time, when I was a pro, for the first two years, people, family, friends, used to come and say, yeah, I know you're a pro, but what else do you do? I said why don't they understand? But now it's changed. ... (Golf's) the fastest growing sport in India."

Singh hasn't reached national hero status like his father, who was besieged by autograph seekers everywhere the family went while he was growing up. In 2007, though, he was awarded the Padma Shri, which is the equivalent of knighthood in India, the first golfer to ever receive the honor.

Singh is one of Star Alliance's most frequent fliers, logging an estimated 100,000 miles in the air each year as he plies his trade around the world. He's taking next week off to see his sisters in New York and then reunite with some college buddies in Austin, Texas, for some golf and reminiscing.

Singh's next start comes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. He hopes to get a sponsor's exemption for the Shell Houston Open, then will play in the Masters, Quail Hollow Championship and THE PLAYERS. He'll come back to the States for the U.S. Open and PGA Championship -- and perhaps, the Presidents Cup, where he's currently 12th in the rankings for the International Team.

Fans admittedly still get Singh confused with the man from Fiji by the same last name. Singh says he hears people in the gallery say, that's Vijay's brother, or, that's Vijay's son. He doesn't mind, though, and knows that only he can make a name for himself.

"I still need to prove myself out here, and I think that's what you get the recognition," Singh said. "I hopefully one day can win a tournament on the U.S. PGA TOUR, and then I think the recognition will come."

Only time will tell if this is the week.