By V. Krishnaswamy, IANS,
Sentosa : Jeev Milkha Singh already a path-breaker in Indian and Asian golf added more landmarks with his latest win Sunday, the 2008 Singapore Open.
Jeev, one month short of his 38th birthday, sealed the Order of Merit by winning the Singapore Open ($792,500 first prize) and took his total earnings to $1,405,606.69 and the nearest to him is Mark Brown ($750,130.44) who missed the cut here.
Though there are four more tournaments on Asian Tour, Jeev cannot be overtaken.
Jeev’s landmarks with this win:
* First Indian to win the Asian Order of Merit twice. He earlier won it in 2006. Indians have now won the Order of Merit four times since 2002 (Jyoti Randhawa in 2002, Arjun Atwal in 2003 and Jeev in 2006 and 2008).
* First to get past $1 million mark in earnings in a single season on Asian Tour (he now has $1,405,606.69)
* The most successful golfer in Asian Tour history as he becomes No. 1 in career earnings at $2,759,191. Jeev is the second Indian to cross $2 million in earnings at the Singapore Open 2008. The first was Jyoti Randhawa.
* This is the second time Jeev has won titles on three different Tours (Asian, European and Japan) in a single year. The first was in 2006.
* The Singapore Open with a cheque of $792,500 is the second biggest cheque Jeev has won in his career. The biggest was the win at Volvo Masters Valderrama, Spain, where he won Euros 666,660 (aprox $ 840,000)
* The win worth 38 World ranking points will once again bring Jeev into World’s top-50. The first time he was inside top-50 was in 2006 and reached a career-high 37 at the end of the season.