As the cameras jostled for space and the microphones bunched up on the table, it was clear he was returning as a superstar.

Five years is a long time to be absent, but as Jeev Milkha Singh presses pause on his European Tour show to return home for the ‘national Open’ this year, the spotlight definitely has found its focus. The course and the players competing alongside haven’t stayed the same, but it is the changes in Jeev and his game that the Delhi crowd will try to spot when the clapperboard flaps at the Hero Honda Indian Open on Thursday.

But conspicuous by his absence will be local lad Shiv Kapur, who chose to give his ‘home’ tournament a miss. Jeev probably put it down mildly when he described this season as “average”, a season where he was supposed to reap fruits of that fabulous 2006 but one that has turned out to be a big letdown. “I have been playing well but not up to what I expected. The main problem has been my putting. Every putt par missed is a bogey and there have been far too many of them,” he said. “There have been some great days but the consistency is missing and that’s what I’m going to try get. It’s a four-day game after all.”

Having slipped to 77 in world rankings, Jeev has set his sights on regaining his top-50 spot now. “It is definitely a big goal to move into the world top-50. One lesson that I’ve learnt is to never stop trying.”

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