Jeev Milkha Singh eyes full PGA Tour card

New Delhi, Dec 20 (UNI) After conquering Asia and mastering Europe, Jeev Milkha Singh has set his eyes on the real McCoy and securing a full PGA Tour card would be next in his agenda when the Indian tees off in the US next year.

''I would be playing 15-20 tournaments in the USA next year and I hope to secure my PGA Tour card there,'' said country's highest ranked golfer after he was felicitated by Army chief General JJ Singh, who is also the president of the Indian Golf Union (IGU), here today.

''Now that I have been assured of starts in all the Majors and WGC tournaments, among others, I can be selective and 15-20 tournaments should be enough to secure my PGA Tour card,'' Jeev said.

And despite his astonishing rise to world number 37 in a spectacular year, Jeev maintained he won't unnecessarily put himself under pressure in pursuit of any target and would instead continue following his routine.

After a dream season which saw him winning four titles in three different tours and breaking into the elite top 50 league, Jeev attributed the meteoric rise to his new-found mantra which lays more stress on the process than the outcome.

''I had lost so many tournaments, putting pressure on myself.

After six years of struggle, I decided to do something different. I decided I won't worry about the outcome and would just concentrate on my game and it paid off! ''Now that the philosophy worked so well for me, I'm not going to try something else. Next year too, I would ignore the leaderboard and keep playing my game,'' explained the golfer who ended a seven-year title drought when he won the Volvo China Open before scooping up three more titles to end the year.

''This has been a fairytale year for me. In fact it was quite difficult to believe that I would start the year at 376 before finishing at 37th. It's a huge jump and it would be quite difficult to better it next year,'' said the Asian number one, who also won the Players' Player of the Year title.

Army chief JJ Singh was all praise for Jeev and said, ''I'm more happy because he comes off an Army family and his father Milkha Singh was a distinguished army sportsperson. I had the chance to play a four-ball with the father-son duo sometimes back and for me, Jeev is the epitom of humility and grace.'' Gen Singh presented Jeev with an IGU blazer and tie.

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