Casares: The prospect of a unique
treble will spur Jeev Milkha Singh when the Indian tees off in
the Volvo World Match Play Championship here tomorrow.
Jeev in fact gave up his title defence at the Singapore
Open this week to back himself for a Volvo treble and the
Indian, despite nursing an ankle injury, is confident of
making his mark.
"The Volvo China Open victory re-launched my career, and
the Volvo Masters (also in 2006) win was probably the biggest
breakthrough in my career so far," said Jeev.
"Volvo has been great for me, great for golf and they
understood when I was unable to defend the Volvo China Open
when I qualified for the US Masters, and it's good to be able
to reciprocate this year," said the affable Indian.
Just back from home, Jeev said the sore ankle still hurts
but he would not throw in the towel.
"Yes, it's a little bit sore but we'll see how it goes
round what looks a very tough golf course," he said.
Jeev is in a tough group, the 15th seed is up against Lee
Westwood, Camilo Villegas and Ross Fisher for a place in
Saturday's semi-finals.
The 37-year-old Indian entered the 16-man field as the
highest ranked player from Asia and became the first player
from the sub-continent to play in the professional golf's
longest-running match play championship.
On his decision to play the event over Singapore Open,
Jeev said, "I view myself now as a truly global golfer and
when I was advised that I qualified for the Volvo World Match
Play Championship as the highest ranked available Asian
player, it left me with a big decision to make, to defend in
Singapore or mix it with the world-class field in Spain."
Bureau Report