Hong Kong: Jeev Milkha Singh, enjoying the best season of his career so far, will be one of the favourites when the UBS Hong Kong Open golf tees off on Thursday.

The Indian star enters this week’s $2 million meet at the end of an unforgettable year: top of the Asian Tour money list, two European Tour titles under his belt and an incredible 10 top-10 finishes in just 14 starts on the Japan Tour.

It is an astonishing turnaround in fortunes for a player who, in his mid-30s, had begun the season without a victory in seven years and was, by his own admission, starting to doubt himself. As it turned out, all he needed to do was relax and take things easy.

“I had been getting pretty close [to winning], but was missing out,” he says. “I was trying my hardest, and playing pretty well, but I knew something was missing. I kept thinking and thinking about it and I realised I had become too result-oriented.

“I made a conscious decision at the start of this year to try a new approach. I said to myself, ‘hey, just go out there and follow your process and if it happens for you, all well and good; if not, you’ve got another week and you’ve got to keep trying’.”

It is a mantra Jeev has followed all year with spectacular consequences. His breakthrough came in last April’s Volvo China Open in Beijing, an event co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours.

A decade earlier, Jeev had been one of the brightest young stars on the Asian Tour. In 1996, he was part of the Indian team that stunned Scotland in the Dunhill Cup at St Andrews and the following year he became the first Indian golfer to qualify for the European Tour.

By the turn of the century he had collected four Asian tour titles and the future held much promise. Then came a succession of injuries, particularly a wrist problem that curtailed his progress. He missed tournaments and his ranking plummeted.

He began to get back on track on the Asian Tour in 2004 with two top-10s from 11 starts. Last year brought further improvement, three top-10s from 12 starts and a leap from 44 to 21 in the money list.

The Valderrama win saw him become only the second Indian after Arjun Atwal to win a European event and it also moved him to the top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit, where he has since remained.

“I’m going to get into a lot of European Tour events next year, a few WGC events and I’m going to get some starts in the US. By the middle of December, I’m going to have to make a decision about whether to get a place in London or the States.”

Before then, Jeev has the Hong Kong Open to think about. European players have won the past seven editions of the co-sanctioned meet, but Jeev thinks an Asian player could step up to put an end to that run. (PTI)