Tiger Woods

Dubai: Tiger Woods has congratulated Jeev Milkha Singh on his fabulous back-to-back victories on the Japan Tour and his imminent qualification for the 2007 Masters.

“He has been working very hard on his game and playing an unbelievable amount of golf. I would like to congratulate him on the wins and I really hope to see him play on the US PGA Tour,” Woods said.

Jeev, who played with Woods in the first two rounds of the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, had requested a Dubai-based Indian journalist to pass on his regards to the American.

“Jeev is a great guy and I am so happy for him now that he is doing so well,” Woods said. “He has become a friend and I am following his progress. I believe he won the Casio World Open in Japan last week. Good for him.”

When woods was informed that it was in fact two titles in two weeks and he had also broken into the top-50 world rankings, he said “I think he fully deserves it”.

Jeev, who climbed into the elite echelon of world golf by climbing up to 47th in this week’s rankings, was delighted with Woods’ compliments.

“Tiger is just a terrific person. I was honestly nervous when I was paired with him in Shanghai, but he put me at ease within the first couple of holes,” Jeev said.

“He is very down-to-earth, and a very funny guy. I must admit that those two rounds of golf with him gave me an extra boost of confidence,” he added.

The Chandigarh pro reaped a rich reward for his outstanding season on the Japan Tour by picking up three top awards and a special honour in the season-ending gala prize presentation of the Tour in Tokyo.

He was specially honoured for being a Japan Tour member who won the biggest tournament of the season on the European Tour — the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama — the first time such an award was presented to a non-Japanese player.

He also picked up awards for the best scoring average, birdie average and for not missing a single cut during the season.

“It was a great honour and a very humbling experience. The reception I got from the packed crowd, and especially from my fellow players on the Japan Tour, is something that I will remember for a long, long time,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jeev has been named as one of five candidates for the Asian Tour’s inaugural UBS Special Achievement Award. The announcement came as Jeev rose to a career-high 47th on the official world golf ranking following his successive victories at the Casio World Open and the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup on the Japan Tour in the last two weeks.

The new award, inaugurated as part of UBS’ title-sponsorship of the Order of Merit, highlights an individual whose performance, either over the last 12 months or cumulatively, has contributed to the development of golf in Asia.

Jeev is joined by some of Asia’s biggest stars on the list — Boonchu Ruangkit, Thongchai Jaidee and Chinarat Phadungsil of Thailand and Singapore’s Mardan Mamat.

(PTI)