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| Jeev Milkha Singh |
“I WOULD SAY I’M A VERY FORTUNATE MAN,” said Jeev Milkha Singh after putting the finishing touches on his playoff victory over Francesco Molinari in the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart Golf Links on Sunday.
Singh shot a 5-under 67 to catch 54-hole leader Molinari, who could do no better than a level-par 72.
In fact, both Singh and Molinari were fortunate to even have a shot at glory after Scotland’s own Marc Warren coughed up a 3-shot lead with four holes to play. Standing on the 15th tee, it seemed all Warren needed to do was keep his hands on the steering wheel and he would coast home to a crowd-pleasing win.
“It was surreal how easy it all was up until that point,” Warren admitted.
But then a double bogey followed by a bogey-bogey-par finish ran his victory parade into the ditch.
Singh, 40, India’s No. 1 player and the 192nd ranked player in the world coming into the week, claimed the trophy on the first playoff hole after Molinari failed to convert his 25-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th. Singh then stepped up and stroked in his 15 footer for the win.
“I’m looking forward to The Open championship,” said Singh, who jumped to 87th in the world rankings. “Coming from India I’m not used to links courses but since coming to Europe I’ve played a lot of links courses.
“This has given me a lot of confidence and I can build on that. I’m feeling fit and good things are on their way in the future.”
(Brought to you by Direct Golf UK, which not long ago ran a competition offering the golf opportunity of a lifetime. Entrants had a chance to play golf with world No. 1 Luke Donald.)