A day in the life of Jeev Milkha Singh

New Delhi, Dec 22 (UNI) The age-old adage maybe a nemesis for any youngster but early to bed and early to rise has clearly made Jeev Milkha Singh healthy, wealthy and wise as well.

The hottest golfer on the planet religiously follows his daily routine, which has seen him return from a seven-year wilderness to claim four titles on three different Tours.

Back home after a fruitful year that saw him break into top 40 of world rankings and emerge as Asia's number one player, Jeev attributes his meteoric rise to be able to concentrate on process, rather than outcome, and insists lot of hard work went behind his success.

''It was not easy to train yourself and rein in your mind not to look at the leaderboard and rather concentrate on the process. I took up yoga and that helped me a lot to get some control over my mind,'' he told UNI.

Asked about his daily routine when he prepares for a tournament, Jeev said, ''I'm an early riser and I get up by 6.30 in the morning and have shower. Thirty minutes of yoga and then breakfast. And then I hit the course for practice. I play there, finish my round and then practice again. After that, it's time for some physical training -- including weight and stretching. Then I go for shower again, followed by another round of personal exercise before heading to the hotel. In all, I hit at least 200-300 balls a day out there and it also involves daily working on my chips and putts.

''I have my dinner quite early and I'm back in my hotel room by eight. I switch on my DVD player and watch movies or any other show which catches my eyes,'' he said.

Asked what was the last movie he saw, Jeev could not recall any English film but revealed he has just seen Sanjay Dutt-starrer ''Lage Raho Munnabhai.'' ''It's a great movie, I must say,'' the golfer said.

On the health ground, the career-threatening wrist injury that plagued his career at early stage is a thing of the past even though Jeev did feel the pain in Japan but assured it was not a worry.

''I'm having medicine and taking a break. That should take care of it and there is nothing to worry. I've played 39 weeks in the Asian, European and Japan Tours and like any other sportsman, I'm too vulnerable to injuries but my wrist is fine now,'' he said.

And he pooh-poohed suggestions that he was making himself more injury-prone by playing almost everywhere.

Jeev's earnings has also made people sit up and take notice.

Jeev amassed a record 591,884 dollar from 14 starts on the Asian Tour alone and the Indian pocketed a cool 840,000 dollar for lifting the Volvo Masters in Spain at Valderrama, besides finishing second in Japan Golf Tour's Order of Merit.

Asked how he plans to approach next year, Jeev, who finished the as world number this year 37, said he would stick to his routine that did the trick for him this year.

''Now that the same routine has proved a success, I should not be experiemnting with anything else. It would be quite tough to better the year but I'm not the same result-oriented golfer that I was earlier,'' he explained.

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