Jeev Milkha Singh Fondly Remembers Volvo China Open Victory

Jeev Milkha Singh is looking forward to returning to the event, Volvo China Open, which he won 10 years ago and got a second wind in his career, while SSP Chawrasia is keen to put up a good show.

Jeev, considered to be the standard-bearer of Indian golf, won the Volvo China Open in 2006 and at that time he had been winless for seven years. It set him on the road to a fantastic year in 2006, when he won four times, including twice in Japan, and also won the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

He again won four times in 2008 and took the Merit honours once more.

Along with Jeev this week at the Volvo China Open will be Chawrasia, the only Indian winner on the European Tour this season.

Jeev will play the first round with Jens Fahrbring and Kim Daehyun, while Chawrasia will go out with Pablo Larrazabal and Liu Yan-wei.

Jeev, who no longer has full playing privileges on the European Tour, has fond memories of the tournament.

"It was a great week and it set me on the road to a superb period for the next few years. It is always great to come back to an event you have won and have such great memories. I hope that will spur me to another good showing," said Jeev.

Chawrasia, who had a good start at the Shenzhen International last week, but then fizzled out over the weekend, is also looking to improving his performance.

"I played well but a couple of errors proved costly and I was unable to recover," said Chawrasia, who is in line to make the cut off for the Olympic Games this year.

Chawrasia is the second Indian behind Anirban Lahiri and both are certain to make the list of 60 qualifiers as the sport makes a return to Olympic programme after 112 years.

Meanwhile, in the build-up to this week's Volvo China Open, some of the European Tour's players took time out to visit the Great Wall of China.

With this week's event being staged at Topwin Golf and Country Club -- located in the shadows of one of the world's greatest structures -- four star players had some unique preparations for the tournament as popular Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez was joined on the Great Wall by defending champion Wu Ashun, his compatriot Zhang Lian-Wei and Sweden's Kristoffer Broberg.

Jimenez, who even hit a memorable shot atop the wall, said: "It's amazing to come here to this beautiful wonder of the world. It makes you feel unbelievable standing here. It's one of the nicest things I've ever experienced in my career."

This week's event will be the 22nd staging of the Volvo China Open.