Jeev looks to put career back on track

He knows most of the greens of Asia, Europe and the US like the back of his hand. He has to his credit a dozen titles culled from what is po...

He knows most of the greens of Asia, Europe and the US like the back of his hand. He has to his credit a dozen titles culled from what is possibly the longest pro career of an Indian golfer. So why does Jeev Milkha Singh feel he hasn’t done much?

‘‘The opportunities were great, I have to blame only myself. I should have worked much harder than I did,’’ he told The Indian Express today.

Twelve years since he turned pro in 1993, Jeev may not have achieved personally much in terms of wins but can take the credit for mapping the route for several youngsters.

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Though that is important to him, Jeev — recently appointed brand ambassador for Indian handicrafts by the Textiles Ministry — hopes the coming season, beginning next week with the Malaysian Open, will be more fruitful personally.

He’ll look to build on a good 2004 after two bad preceding years. He missed the cut in just two of the 35 tournaments he entered in the Asian and Japan Tours, ‘‘a bigger achievement as far as I’m concerned.’’ He cited the lack of consistency in his game that spoilt the years before last and he was slowly catching up with the rest of the field.

Another aspect where he and ‘‘all of us Indians have to work on is the physical and mental thing.’’ The difference between a European and an Indian player is the difficulty in adjusting to the various greens in difficult circumstances.

But with the likes of Jyoti Randhawa, Arjun Atwal making waves both on the US PGA and Japanese Tours, the gap has narrowed down. ‘‘Indian golf is in the good hands of youngsters like Ashok Kumar, Shiv Kapur and Gurbaz Mann and they are at par with the best anywhere in he world.’’

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Starting with the Malaysian Open next week, Jeev will keep himself busy the next seven weeks — appearing in Myanmar, Qatar, Thailand, China, Japan and two tournaments here in India.

He regrets his inability to play more tournaments at home, and to improve on the record of one title won, back in 1996.

‘‘I want to play more in India but the Japan Tour keeps me really busy and if I miss it, I will lose the opportunity,’’ says Jeev who will be participating in the US Tour Qualifiers in November.