Jeev tied 19th at Celtic Manor Wales Open

New Port (Wales), June 5 (PTI) A hole-in-one on the 13th was the highlight of Jeev Milkha Singh's card as the Indian brought home a two-under 69 to lie tied 19 after the opening round of the Celtic Manor Wales Open here.

Among other Indians in fray, Jyoti Randhawa turned in one-over 72 to be tied 62, while Shiv Kapur carded two-over 73 to languish at tied 87.

On a rollercoaster day, Jeev sank as many as three birdies and a hole-in-one against three bogeys at the Celtic Manor Resort for a strong start to his campaign.

Jeev had a poor start when he stumbled on a bogey in the second hole and although he made amends with a birdie at the eighth, a ninth hole bogey had him one-over at the turn.

On resumption, the Chandigarh golfer hit another birdie-bogey patch at the 11th and 12th hole before he fired a hole-in-one on the par-three 13th and followed it up with a birdie at the 15th to end the day on a positive note.

In contrast, Randhawa's card included a couple of bogeys on the fifth and 17th holes with the lone birdie at the 13.

Shiv Kapur was even-par after his front nine before he ran into trouble and his back nine included two birdies, as many bogeys and the 12th hole double bogey.

At the top, Thomas Bjorn blasted a five-under 66 to share the lead with England's Nick Dougherty, Scotland's Alan McLean and South African David Frost after the first round here. PTI

Jeev eyes full PGA Tour card for 2010

NEW DELHI: Next week's Northern Trust Open in California will be first of the 12 tournaments Jeev Milkha Singh plans to play in the US this season and the Indian pro is confident of doing decent enough to seal his full PGA Tour card for 2010.

"I will be playing six weeks in an eight-week period and be back after the Augusta Masters," said a relaxed Jeev as he prepared to leave for the US.

"I have a start in all the Majors and the WGC events and the Invitationals and I will get some other invites. Hopefully in these I shall be able to have good enough finishes to make my card and playing rights for the full PGA Tour in 2010," said the Indian.

Apart from securing his card for the next year, doing well in the Majors figure quite high on Jeev's agenda.

"Playing and doing well on the world's biggest and toughest Tour and achieving good results at the Majors is the goal of every professional. I am going all out to try and do that this year," said Jeev.

A veritable golfing nomad who played virtually non-stop on Asian, European, Japan and PGA Tours over the years, Jeev has decided to slow down and he in fact played only three events in the West Asia this year.

"Cutting down events and focusing on US for the first few months has been my plan for 2009. I want to play 33 weeks or so and play well to get my ranking further up. I have enjoyed the Majors and I want to do well in them this season," Jeev said.

"I had a mixed start in the Middle East. I had two top-20 finishes in Qatar and Dubai. But the good thing I hit the ball well and got to the greens in regulation often enough to give myself birdie chances. But I did not hole many of those putts. I am not going to get worried as this is just the start," he added.

In the next eight weeks, Jeev will tee off in six events, including two World Golf Championship events - the World Matchplay and WGC-CA Championships - and the Augusta Masters. The other events will be Northern Trust Open, Arnold Palmer invitational and the Shell Houston Open.

In the latter part of the season, Jeev hopes to play six more events in US and some in Europe and Asia.

"Yes, I will play some in Europe and Asia, but the focus as I have been saying is going to be US," he concluded.

Source: TOI