I'll keep the tricolour fluttering: Jeev Milkha Singh

Augusta, Georgia, Apr 5 (UNI) Burdened with the expectations of a billion people, ace Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh said he is confident of making the 'tricolour' flutter in the Augusta Masters, which started here today.

'' Everyone has been telling me that back home one billion people will be watching me this week and I'm happy about that.

I'm proud to be an Indian playing over here and hopefully I can keep the flag flying,'' said Jeev, the first Indian to compete at the Masters.

''I'm not going to put any expectations. I'm going to play it one shot at a time and see what comes my way. I've pushed myself quite a bit over the last few weeks and was result oriented,'' he added.

The reigning Asian Tour number one also expressed optimism that in future the continent is going to witness a rise in the number of participants in major golfing events as Asian players were not inferior to any of the global's elite when it comes to golfing abilities.

''Golf is a global sport now and that's great to see. It's good for the game as the Asians will know that they are good enough to play in big events against the best. We are going to see a lot more talent coming up from Asia.'' ''I think the time is getting closer for an Asian to win a Major. It's basically your mind set, you have to believe in yourself when you're playing out there and if you keep believing in yourself you'll be as good as anybody else,'' said the 35-year-old Indian, who enjoyed four wins on three different Tours last year and was the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit winner.

Interestingly, Chinese Taipei's Lu Liang-huan came close to winning a Masters when he finished second behind Lee Trevino in the 1971 British Open, while Korea's K J Choi enjoyed a third place finish at the Masters three years back.

UNI