Sports Views

Najib should be our Sports Minister. No, I am serious. He should be since he made 2 valid points about sports excellence in Malaysia. The first was in February when Najib said that Malaysia did Vijay Singh a big favor by not granting him permanent residence. The underlying message: Don’t be a Malaysian if want to excel at international level?

It wasn’t very crowded and we were able to get very close to many of the players. Caleb got autographs on his hat from Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Adam Scott, Tim Clark, Mike Weir, Nick O’Hern, Mark Hensby, and Trevor Immelman. Yes, those are all international players; he wasn’t able to get any autographs from the US side.

One of the coolest things about working in the golf business is some of the people that you meet. The year prior (2000) I had worked with a girl that eventually went on to work for the R&A in St. Andrews. She sent me an email asking if I would be interested in coming to the Open and then playing some golf in St. Andrews. I don’t know of too many golfers that would say no to an offer like that. I rounded up a bit of cash (I was a student then) and booked my trip. The Open that year was at Royal Lytham and St. Annes so I flew to Manchester, boarded a train and got dropped off right at the course. I arrived late Friday afternoon… the tournament was still going on but jet lag didn’t allow me to see anything. I went and napped in the hotel for the afternoon. The R&A folks were staying in the same hotel as some of the players and I had a chance to see Vijay Singh (and his clubs) up close. I went to bed that night pretty excited!

As of today, golfer Vijay Singh is still in the running to win the U.S. Open. In case you were thinking of trying this yourself, here is a look at Singh’s training schedule as reported in the New York Times this past week.

Tiger Woods is in the news for all the wrong reasons. First, he missed the cut at the recent Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas after a record number of tournaments. Now, the latest is that he is set to lose his number 1 ranking to Fijian Golfer Vijay Singh. The rankings are scheduled to be updated this coming Sunday.

For most part of the tournament, it was all about Sergio Garcia who dominated the proceedings. However, everything changed in the last round at the Wachovia Championship. Vijay Singh clinched his third PGA Tour victory of the year overcoming the challenge from Sergio Garcia and Jim Furyk.

Vijay Singh was delighted with his performance and spoke to the media after winning the tournament: “In a playoff you only think of that one shot at a time. You’re not even worried about anything else that’s going on, just one particular shot, and probably that’s why it’s a little bit easier to go ahead and play it. Maybe I should do that all the time.”

So I’m watching John Daly warm up for his playoff with Vijay Singh at the Houston Open by chain-smoking and joshing with buddies and officials, whoever happens to pass by. He finally warms up when he gets to the first tee, cigarette dangling from his mouth, ashes dropping on his shirt.

Vijay Singh has become the youngest player to be elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame at the age of 42. Singh has had a remarkable career playing both on the PGA Tour and internationally. Vijay Singh has carved his path to success with 25 PGA Tour victories to date, including three major championships. Vijay also has 22 international victories on his résumé, including wins in Malaysia, France, Nigeria, the Ivory Coast, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Spain, Germany, England, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan and Canada.

In the 2004 season, Vijay Singh clearly showed that he deserved to be the number one golfer in the world after winning nine times and earning a record setting $10,905,166. Singh became the first player to win over $10 million in a single season and also was honored as the PGA Tour Player of the Year.

Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest videogame publishers, has signed an exclusive license with Vijay Singh to produce a video golf game titled after him.

Vijay Singh, Fiji-born of Indian descent and considered one of the most consistent and focused golfers on the tour, will now lend his name to one of the titles inspired by his powerful and aggressive style, the company said.

You know how you are sometimes in the right place at the right time. Well that was me last summer when my family and I were strolling throught the vendors tent the day before the practice rounds began for the 2004 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits near Kohler, Wisconsin. A vendor who was unable to attend the Wednesday practice round gave me 2 free tickets and I was there with camera in hand. The picture above is of the 18th green and the Club House on a cloudy rainy day that gave up a few moments of sunshine for the many spectators. I was...