MUMBAI, APRIL 27: Jeev Milkha Singh, the lone Indian golfer in the European PGA tour, jumped 23 spots from previous week's 174th place to a career-high ranking of 151 according to the world rankings list released yesterday.The Chandigarh-based professional, who is sponsored by Hero Honda Motors, finished runner-up on Sunday to Korean Choi Kyoung-Ju in the 100-million-yen Kirin Open, sanction event of the Japanese PGA tour and the Asian tour, Jeev, who lost in the first hole of play-off, now has an average of 1.21 and 52 points to be among the 27 Asians in the top 200 of the list.Heading the Asian challenge is Fijian Vijay Singh, a regular on the US PGA tour and the defending US Open champion. The list has 23 Japanese, with Jumbo Ozaki at 14th place with 6.62 points. Apart from India's Jeev, the list also has Frankie Minoza of Philippines at 61st place, one South Korean Jong Duck-Kim the Asian PGA tour results are not counted in the world rankings.In the world money list, Jeev is expected to breakinto the top 100 when the list is released today. The $62,500 runner-up cheque will take his season's earning in the European and Japanese PGA tour to $192,381.It was a near miss for Jeev as a win in the Kirin Open would have opened up a lot many avenues for this ace golfer. A first place would have ensured he topped the Asian tour's Order of Merit with the winner's cheque of $125,000 that would have given him automatic entry into the prestigious British Open, one of the four majors in world golf, as well as the Memorial tournament in the US in June. More importantly, he would have gained a two-year exemption on the Japanese PGA tour, which is considered at par with the European PGA tour.Jeev, who missed the Peugeot Open de Espana, a European PGA tour event, in order to participate in the Kirin Open, has dropped to 21st position in the Volvo Order of Merit with earnings of 111,279 euros.Despite the lost opportunity, the 28-year-old was his optimistic self. ``The thought of getting a direct entry intothe British Open never crossed my mind. But I was very upset when I lost the play-off. However, I firmly believe that bigger and better things are in store for me,'' said Jeev whose last title win was way back in 1996 when he won the Philip Morris Asia Cup in Korea.Jeev is in exceptional form this year, after ending last season at 322nd place in the world rankings, he has finished joint third in the season-opening Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship, and then went one better with a joint second finish at the Mercedes Benz-Vodacom South African Open. His immediate aim is to get a direct entry into the British Open, one of the four Majors of world golf, by remaining high enough in the European PGA Tour's Volvo Order of Merit.Jeev leaves for Italy on Tuesday night to participate in the Fiat and Fila Open, and event on the European PGA tour.World rankings (top 10): l David Duval (US), 2 Tiger Woods (US), 3 Davis Love III (US), 4 Ernie Els (SA), 5 Mark O'Meara (US), 6 Vijay Singh (Fiji), 7 LeeWestwood (Eng), 8 Colin Montgomerie (Sco), 9 Nick Price (Zim), 10 Jim Furyk (US).Top Asians: 14 Jumbo Ozaki (Jap), 42 Shigeki Maruyama (Jap), 61 Frankie Minoza (Phi), 151 Jeev Mikha Singh (Ind).
