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Jeev Milkha Singh: First Indian golfer at Augusta

India is the 38th different country that the European Tour has visited and that is very much due to the resurgent form of Jeev Milkha Singh.

Mark Roe
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We have an exciting week ahead here on Sky Sports as we and the European Tour take our first trip to India.

I believe it is the 38th different country that the European Tour has visited and that is very much due to the resurgent form of Jeev Milkha Singh.

Singh won four times in 2006 - the Volvo China Open, the Volvo Masters and twice on the Japanese Tour - taking him into the top 50 in the world, which meant he was invited to make his debut at the US Masters in 2007, becoming the first Indian to play at Augusta.

His success has inspired and dragged other Indian players to the fore and we have seen both Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur, both extremely talented players, impress on the European Tour. I wouldn't be surprised to see either them win on Tour in the next couple of years, they are both capable.

Growth

These are exciting times and this is a golden period for Indian golf, and we will be back in India for the Johhnie Walker Classic before the end of February. India has the potential to be a huge growth area for the game of golf and these tournaments can only help.

I have never even been to India let alone play there but I understand that the course for the Indian Masters this week is a traditional one, not long at 7014 yards, and according to Jeev Milkha Singh you will use a lot of irons off the tee. I believe it to be a course that you need to play tactically well, think your way around and it could be a shot-makers golf course.

The one thing that is absolutely guaranteed is that the Tour will receive a very warm welcome; the organisers are not charging for tickets and I am sure the course will be crammed with supporters clambering to see their home-grown stars out on the course.

Jeev Milkha Singh has received the Padma Shri, an award given by the Government of India to Indian citizens in recognition of their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity including the Arts, Education, Industry, Literature, Science, Sports, Social Service and public life.

He really is a hero in his home country and an inspiration for golfers in India and as the game grows, he and the likes of Shiv Kapur and Jyoti Rhandawa will grow and grow in stature.

Stars

If these are exciting times for Indian golf, these are exciting times too for the European Tour, visiting a new place where clearly the game will boom and where tournaments too will grow and grow in stature.

What will help is having players of the calibre of Ernie Els coming to play and what great timing too, off the back of his performance in Dubai last week.

He was back to somewhere near his excellent best form at the Dubai Desert Classic but just fell short on Sunday afternoon. Whether that was the Tiger Woods intimidation factor or something else... who knows? But he just wasn't able to find the birdie on the last three holes to tie Tiger and it was Woods that wound up the Championship.

Ernie clearly played very well though and has started this season very well, so he will be looking to take the title at a tournament like the Indian Masters. Perhaps he will be hoping that there is no water on the 18th hole at the Delhi Golf Club.

There does seem to be an issue about second shots over water for Ernie right now. The tragedy that befell him at Leopard Creek when he put two in the water to record a triple bogey and lose the tournament on the 72nd hole, that will stick in the mind for a while. It hurts.

You would have to be a very strong person not to have that in your mind, even at the back of it or just subliminally, the next time you have a shot over water. When he stood over the second shot at the Emirates, you can't help but think that Leopard Creek was in his mind. His second shot on Sunday was about 20 yards short.

Tiger

I wouldn't be surprised to see him bounce back and win this weekend. A field without Tiger Woods and a field with him is a different proposition for someone with the talent of Els.

Whenever Tiger plays he is an odds-on favourite. He didn't play his best golf in Dubai; he was blown away by the winds on Friday and hadn't found his swing again on Saturday. It was only on the back nine on Sunday that we started to see the real Tiger again.

In the first round he was absolutely sublime and the middle two rounds of 71, 73 were just about as poor a round as you are going to get from Woods in the whole of the season, but he was still able to pick up the biggest cheque at the end. It was a simply stunning victory for me.

The other great performance of last week was another shining example of the precocious talent of Martin Kaymer. With a 3-3-3 finish he got to within a shot of Woods and when he stood over that final putt, he thought it was to tie the World No.1.

He told us in his interview afterwards that he hadn't looked at the leaderboard and was disappointed to see that Woods had got 14-under; that he was one shot adrift still. Those are the actions of a man thinking purely about winning and becoming one of the very best players in the game.

He is very special and thankfully, on the European Tour, we are going to see a lot more of him this year.