Vijay Singh

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Vijay Singh

Personal Information
Birth: 22 February 1963,
Lautoka, Fiji
Height: 6' 2" (1.88 m)
Nationality: Flag of Fiji Fiji
Residence: Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA
Career
College: n/a
Turned Professional: 1982
Current Tour: PGA Tour (joined Spring 1993) and European Tour (rejoined 2006)
Professional wins: 52 (PGA Tour 29; European Tour 12 (including 3 co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour); others 14)
Majors: Masters 2000
PGA Championship 1998, 2004
Awards: Rookie of the Year 1993
PGA Tour Money Winner
2003, 2004
PGA Tour Player of the Year 2004
Vardon Trophy 2004


This article is about the golfer; for information on the politician, see Vijay R. Singh.

Vijay Singh (born 22 February 1963) is a professional golfer who was number one in the Official World Golf Rankings for 32 weeks in 2004 and 2005. A Fijian of Indian ancestry, he was born in Lautoka, Fiji and grew up in Nadi. He has won three major championships (one Masters in 2000 and two PGA Championships in 1998 and 2004) and was the leading PGA Tour money winner in 2003 and 2004. Singh is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Singh, a resident of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, is the son of Mohan Singh, an airplane technician who also taught golf. Growing up, he admired the swing of Tom Weiskopf, using it as an early model for his own. Singh is known for his meticulous preparation, often staying at the range hours before and after his tournament rounds working on his game.

Singh is married to Ardena Seth, who is Malaysian. They have a son, Qass Seth, born on 16 June 1990.

Contents

[edit] Career history

As a child, Vijay Singh's family didn't have the money for buying golf balls. At one point, he joked to reporters: "When we were kids we couldn't afford golf balls so we had to make do with coconuts. My father used to say, 'Little Vijay, golf balls don't fall off trees you know,' so I found some that did!" [1]. Growing up, Singh was playing snooker, cricket, soccer, and also the island's favourite sport, rugby. To play golf on the only golf course within reach, he would run across the runway and jump over a fence - but he felt good enough about it to turn pro in 1982.

Two years later, in 1984, Singh won the Malaysian PGA Championship. However, his career was plunged into crisis after he was suspended from the Asian Tour in 1985 over allegations he doctored his scorecard. It appears that he may have lowered his score from one over to one under in order to make the cut, but he denies this, saying that in any case, it should only have resulted in disqualification from the event rather than a ban. Signing a wrong scorecard and being disqualified is not rare in golf, it is usually viewed as an honest mistake. Notable golfers to whom this has happened include Nick Faldo (twice), Greg Norman, Nick Price, Davis Love, Jeff Sluman, Lee Janzen and Michelle Wie[4]. Comparatively Singh's case has received much greater scrutiny by the media.

He felt he had been more harshly treated because the marker was "the son of a VIP in the Indonesian PGA." [2] He took a job at the Keningau Club in a remote part of Borneo, where most of the members were busy Shell Oil executives, who left him with plenty of time for practice. [3] He saved the money he needed to resurrect his career and began to compete in tournaments again. He won the Nigerian Open in 1988, and at the end of that year he entered the European Tour Qualifying School for the second consecutive year, and was successful on this occasion. In 1989 he won the his first European Tour title at the Volvo Open Championship in Italy and finished 24th on the European Tour Order of Merit, putting his early stuggles firmly behind him. He won on the European Tour again in 1990 and did so twice in 1992. He also won several tournaments in Asia and Africa in this period.

Singh came into the PGA Tour in 1993, winning his first PGA Tour event, the Buick Classic in a playoff over Mark Wiebe. That victory led to him being named the 1993 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. After being hampered with back and neck problems in 1994, he came back to win the Buick Classic again in 1995 as well as the Phoenix Open. After playing well in 1996 (but with no victories), he won both the Memorial Tournament and the Buick Open in 1997.

In 1998, Singh was victorious at the PGA Championship at Sahalee in Sammamish, Washington, playing a 70-66-67-68 over the four days (66 tied a course record) and giving him his first Major title. He followed up his first Major title by winning The Masters in 2000 with a three-stroke victory over Ernie Els.

Singh did not win on the PGA Tour in 2001, but finished the year with a Tour-best 14 top-10 finishes and was fourth on the money list with $3,440,829 for the year. In 2002, he won at the Shell Houston Open at TPC at The Woodlands, setting a new 72-hole scoring record with a 65, and at the Tour Championship, winning by two strokes over Charles Howell III.

2003 proved to be a very successful year for Singh. He won four tournaments, had 18 top-10 finishes and was the PGA TOUR's money leader (and second all-time single-season total) with $7,573,907, beating Tiger Woods by $900,494, though Singh played 27 tournaments to Woods' 18 tournaments. His victories came at the Phoenix Open, the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, the John Deere Classic and the FUNAI Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort. He narrowly lost the vote for the PGA of America's Player of the Year to Tiger Woods.

However, the 2003 season was also spotted with controversy surrounding the year's event at the Colonial. LPGA star Annika Sörenstam became the first woman to play at a PGA TOUR event since Babe Zaharias at the 1945 Los Angeles Open. Surrounding this fervor, Singh was misquoted as having said that Sörenstam "didn't belong" on the men's tour and that he wouldn't play if he were paired with her. What he actually said is that he wouldn't be paired with her because his playing partner was being selected from the past champion's pool. Singh later clarified, "There are guys out there trying to make a living. It's not a ladies' tour. If she wants to play, she should—or any other woman for that matter—if they want to play the man's tour, they should qualify and play like everybody else."

Continuing his torrid pace Singh began 2004 by winning the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am at -16 and winning $954,000 in prize money. This was his first win on tour in 2004 and his 16th all-time on the PGA Tour. It was his 12th consecutive top-10 finish, which is two shy of Jack Nicklaus' all-time record.

Singh won the final major of 2004, winning the PGA Championship, his third major, in a three-hole playoff over Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco. Singh was the leader by one shot over Leonard going into the final round, but made no birdies in the final round, finishing regulation at 67-68-69-76=280. His final round of 76 was the highest winning score by a major champion since 1955. The playoff was a tense affair, and Vijay 's birdie on the first playoff hole, his first birdie of the day, proved to be the difference.

On September 6, 2004 (Labor Day), Singh won the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, Massachusetts. With the win, Singh overtook Tiger Woods at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings, ending Wood's streak of 264 weeks at the top of the golf world.

He finished the 2004 season with a career-best nine victories, 18 top-10s, and a record $10,905,166 in earnings and was named the PGA TOUR's and PGA of America's Player of the Year. The latter award is decided by a vote of active PGA players.

Despite picking up a win early in 2005, Singh lost his world number 1 ranking when Tiger Woods won the Ford Championship at Doral on 6 March, but just two weeks later he took it back again after notching up top three finishes in three consecutive weeks. Followings Woods' win at the 2005 Masters, Singh once again lost his place as World No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings and finished tied for fifth place. In April, he became the youngest living person elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame, garnering 56% of the ballot. 30-year-old Karrie Webb was inducted into the Hall of Fame in October 2005, but remained the youngest living electee, as Webb qualified for the Hall without an election process. (The 19th century great Tom Morris, Jr., who was elected in 1975, died at age 24.) Singh deferred his induction for a year, and it took place in October 2006.

In 2006 Singh played enough European Tour events to be listed on the European Tour Order of Merit title for the first time since 1995.

Singh's career has been marked by steady sustained progress based on exceptional commitment to achieve. Even when he was in his late thirties few suspected that he was a future World Number 1, but he has won 17 times since turning 40 - equalling Sam Snead's record. His 29 career victories is the most on the PGA Tour by a non-American player.

[edit] Relations with the media

Singh has always felt that the world views him as an outsider, and he is quick to take umbrage. His interviews are sparse and he is seen as being unfriendly to reporters and fans. Partly it is his penchant for making controversial statements, such as when he said of Annika Sörenstam, playing at The Colonial in 2003, "I hope she misses the cut ... because she doesn't belong out here." He later said that the substance of his interview to an Associated Press reporter was that she would be displacing some other struggling male player, for whom he had his sympathies. However, the media focused on this statement, Golf Digest writing that Singh had become "pro golf's bad guy." Others called him a "sexist oaf," a "big, whiny, whimpering baby" and "Vijay the Villain." [4]. Both fans and the media tend to overlook Singh. In 2004, when he was number one in the world rankings and also the highest money earner, the media coverage focused more on Phil Mickelson.

To reach where he is today, Singh has had to overcome a huge class and culture divide. The immense hardships he faced early on as a desperately poor man in a rich man's game, has left their mark on him. At one point he had borrowed money in Australia that he could not repay, and was banned for some years there. [5] He has also played for money without having the wherewithal to pay up.

[edit] Major Championships

[edit] Wins (3)

Year Championship 54 Holes Winning Score Margin of Victory Runners Up
1998 PGA Championship Tied for lead -9 (70-66-67-68=271) 2 strokes United States Steve Stricker
2000 The Masters 3 shot lead -10 (72-67-70-69=278) 3 strokes South Africa Ernie Els
2004 PGA Championship (2) 1 shot lead -8 (67-68-69-76=280) Playoff 1 United States Chris DiMarco, United States Justin Leonard

1 Defeated Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco in three-hole playoff - Singh (3-3-4=10), Leonard (4-3-4=11), and DiMarco (4-3-4=11)

[edit] Results timeline

Tournament 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Masters DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T27 CUT T39 T17 CUT T24
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT DNP T10 T7 T77 T25 T3
British Open T23 T12 T12 T51 T59 T20 T6 T11 T38 T19 CUT
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP T48 4 CUT CUT T5 T13 1 T49
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
The Masters 1 T18 7 T6 T6 T5 T8
U.S. Open T8 T7 T30 T20 T28 T6 T6
British Open T11 T13 CUT T2 T20 T5 CUT
PGA Championship CUT T51 8 T34 1 T10 CUT

DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

[edit] Tournament victories

[edit] PGA Tour wins (29)

Major championships are shown in bold.

[edit] European Tour wins (12)

Singh's major championship victories are repeated here because the three major championships played in the United States became official events on the European Tour in 1998.

[edit] Other professional wins (14)

[edit] PGA Tour career summary

Year Majors Other wins Total wins Earnings ($) Rank
1993 - 1 1 657,831 19
1994 - - - 325,959 52
1995 - 2 2 1,018,713 9
1996 - - - 855,140 17
1997 - 2 2 1,059,236 16
1998 1 1 2 2,238,998 2
1999 - 1 1 2,283,233 4
2000 1 - 1 2,573,835 5
2001 - - - 3,440,829 4
2002 - 2 2 3,756,563 3
2003 - 4 4 7,573,907 1
2004 1 8 9 10,905,166 1
2005 - 4 4 8,017,336 2
2006* - 1 1 4,602,416 4
Career* 3 26 29 49,379,841 2

* Complete through end of 2006 season.

There is a summary of Singh's European Tour career here

[edit] Team appearances

[edit] Other interests and facts

In May 2005, Singh was appointed a goodwill ambassador for Fiji. He said that he did not expect anything in return from the Fijian government for representing his country. At a press conference on 18 May 2005, Singh commented on what he said was a deterioration in race relations in Fiji, saying that for such a small country, people of all races should live together, put their differences aside, and get on with life. Relations between Indo-Fijians and indigenous Fijians had been more harmonious when he was younger, he said.

Singh has purchased an island on The World Islands archipelago in Dubai. He intends to build a water golf course on his property.

Although he is a right-handed golfer, Singh once said on TV he was "about a 6 handicap" left handed.

Vijay Singh is a recurring character in the fictional interviews at the College of Law in the UK.

Vijay Singh Fan Club™

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Singh hits top note but stays a man of mystery, The Daily Telegraph, 31 December, 2004.
  3. ^ The Daily Telegraph, ibid.
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ [3]

[edit] External links


Official World Golf Rankings | World No. 1's in Men's Golf
Severiano Ballesteros | Fred Couples | David Duval | Ernie Els | Nick Faldo | Bernhard Langer | Tom Lehman | Greg Norman | Nick Price | Vijay Singh | Tiger Woods | Ian Woosnam
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