Year of Green Revolution: bumper crop for Jeev Milkha Singh

It was Green Revolution of another kind as Jeev Milkha Singh returned from seven years in the wilderness to reap a rich harvest, forcing a cricket-obsessed nation and a certain Tiger Woods as well, to sit up and take notice.

Indian golf never had it so good and the year 2006 clearly belonged to Jeev, arguably the hottest golfer in the planet, who ended a seven-year title brought with Volvo China Open and looked in insatiable hunger.

A wrist injury, flagging morale and diminishing confidence had compounded Jeev's problems before the Indian decided that process, and not the outcome, was more important for him at that point of time. And the results were showing.

Volvo China Master applied the balm on his wounds created by seven years of staring down the barrel and it turned out to be just the appetiser for Jeev.

For those who thought China was fluke, Jeev came up with a stunner in the Volvo Masters in Spain, silencing top guns like Sergio Garcia, Padrig Harrington and Luke Donald to lift the trophy.

And back-to-back triumphs in his happy hunting ground of Japan Tour -- at Casio World Open and Golf Nippon Series JT Cup -- made it a memorable year, which also saw Jeev scooping up three main honours at the Asian Tour's UBS Awards Gala 2006.

Jeev swept the award ceremony by winning Players' Player of the Year, inaugural UBS Special Achievement Award and the UBS Order of Merit title.

Jeev ended the year on a career-highest 37th rankings, which guarantees him starts in all four Majors next year. And apart from winning the votes of his peers, Jeev also earned a word of praise from Woods, with whom he was paired in the HSBC Champions field in Hong Kong.

''What he did at Valderamma, obviously, and what he's doing in Asia, he's having a great year. I think it's just a matter of confidence. He's playing a lot of golf and he's starting to turn the corner. It's good to see. I know about him quite a bit and he's such a great guy,'' Woods said of the Indian.

Jyoti Randhawa, giving Jeev company in the elite league of top 100 players, also tasted success at home soil when he lifted the Indian Open.

Randhawa's story goes far beyond the lone title and some decent finishes. The lanky golfer has mastered the mind game and is more relaxed when he goes out. Statistics too vouch for him. At the Asian Tour's UBS Awards Gala 2006, Randhawa took home the Lowest Stroke Average with 69.74, a wonderful reflection of his consistent performance in which he won the Hero Honda Indian Open and finished sixth on the Order of Merit.

And if it looked a so-so season for Shiv Kapur, that's because of the high level of expectations which the Delhi golfer had set after a dream rookie season last year. Shiv failed in his attempt to defend the Volvo Masters of Asia title and his World Cup campaign with Gaurav Ghei was not spectacular either. But the golfer's class was enough to prompt his childhood hero Fred Couples liken him to Bernhard Langer. And with the European Tour card already in pocket, Shiv has set himself the triple targets of winning in European Tour, finish in the top 60 to qualify for Volvo Masters in Spain and break into the top 100 in the rankings.

For seasoned Gaurav Ghei, a history-maker in many ways, the wait for a second Asian Tour title has been a painstaking 11 years and it was an emotional moment when Ghei, first Indian to qualify for British Open back in 1997, finally laid his fingers on the Mercuries Taiwan Masters trophy.

Meanwhile, SSP Chowrasia emerged as the next big thing in Indian golf with his brilliant rookie season in the Asian Tour. Nicknamed ''Chipputtsia'' for his magical short game, Chowrasia grabbed headlines at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters, which he was leading by three strokes after two rounds before being disqualified for not signing the scorecard.

The Kolkata pro had previously made the cut in all nine events in his rookie season.

Chowrasia, however, bounced back in style and forced a play-off with compatriot Jyoti Randhawa before finishing runner-up in the Indian Open. And the quartet of Gaganjeet Bhullar, Anirban Lahiri, Chirag Kumar and Joseph Chakola also chipped in with the team Silver from the Doha Asian Games.

The only blot in an otherwise shiny canvas was Orlando-based Arjun Atwal's dipping form, which saw the Indian lose his full PGA Tour card for the next year. If Jeev returned with a Midas touch, Atwal clearly lost it this season. Nothing went right for the Kolkata pro, who had missed just one cut in the entire season last year, a record even Tiger Woods could not match.

But Randhawa and Shiv Kapur vouch that Atwal is too good a player to be in the rut for long and it's just a matter of time before he finds his place in the elite PGA Tour.

In another significant development, leading players staged a bloodless coup and decided to breakaway from the Professional Golfers Association of India (PGAI) to form Professional Golf Tour of India, a by-the-players-for-the-players-of-the-players body according to Shiv Kapur and PGTI began with a bang by drawing the big names for the BILT Open.

Overall, it has been a phenomenal year for Indian golf, to be precise. And a bullish Jeev, who heralded this Green Revolution, summed up it saying, ''Personally this has been a dream-come-true season for me and for India, golf is now second only to cricket. And with a bit more support from the corporate world, golf can surely match cricket in the next 5-10 years.''

UNI