Scottish Open: Singh hoping to defend title

2012 Scottish Open winner Jeev Milkha Singh. Picture: Jane Barlow

JEEV Milkha Singh is hoping a ticking-off from his father can help him become a back-to-back Scottish Open winner – and also secure an 11th-hour major date for the second year running.

Last year’s winner at Castle Stuart may be 41, but that doesn’t stop him occasionally getting on the sharp end of his dad’s tongue.

“My father is a friend; a very good friend,” said Singh, “but, when he needs to be a father, he is a father. In fact, last week he was talking to me and I said, ‘dad, I’m 42’. But he said, ‘no, for a sportsman, you’ve got to maintain a standard’. He reminded me that I’d got to an age where there are young players coming up and, instead of practising for an hour, I needed to practice for three hours to maintain that standard.”

Defending his title has meant Singh missing out on the premiere in India of a Bollywood movie based on his father, the ‘Flying Sikh’ who held the 400m world record and finished fourth in the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

“It’s a big week for the family and it was a tough decision to miss the premiere,” said Singh, who needs to hang on to his title on Sunday to book at berth at Muirfield.