Scottish Open: Singh hoping to defend title

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.

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

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.