Aberdeen hotelier recalls Indian teenager's 1986-87 visits

VOLVO MASTERS WINNER JEEV MILKA
SINGH IS A DOUG SANDERS "OLD BOY"

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Jeev Milka Singh, the Indian golfer who won the Volvo Masters at Valderrama on Sunday, could not afford a decent pair of golf shoes when he came to Aberdeen 20 years ago!
Jeev, pictured right, played in the 1986 and 1987 Doug Sanders world boys championships, a tournament that was hosted by Aberdeen for the best part of 20 years.
Aberdeen hotelier Stewart Spence was chairman of the organising committee. He has fond memories of the Indian lad.
“He arrived for the 1986 championship at Hazlehead with no golf shoes worthy of the name but after the story appeared in the Press and Journal, we had six pairs donated,” recalls Stewart.
“Jeev’s father was an officer in the Indian Army and he and his brother caddied for the officers at their golf club in the north of India. The two borthers had only one pair of golf shoes between them so both couldn’t play in tournaments at the same time.
“When he arrived in Aberdeen 20 years ago at the age of 16 – with a moustache! – his golf shoes, to be it nicely, were past it and had to be put in the bucket. Eventually, he played in one of the 300 pairs of golf shoes that Doug Sanders had in his collection. If I remember correctly, they were pink!
“Jeev returned in the summer of 1987 to play again in the Doug Sanders world boys championship in Aberdeen. He was a really, really lovely guy, so polite and mannerly.
“Many of the young boys who came over to play in the Doug Sanders world boys championship went on to make their mark as top tour professionals. Adam Scott, the Australian, was just one of a long list. Another Australian, Aaron Badley, who had been over here as well, won a tournament in the United States the same week as Jeev made his breakthrough in China several years ago.
“I still make a point of reading the scores from all the world golf circuits to see how the Doug Sanders ‘old boys’ are getting on. Great memories indeed.”