Nicknamed as “The Big Fijian”, Vijay Singh is the professional Indo-Fijian golfer from Ponte Vedra Beach Florida. He is born on February 22, 1963 in Lautoka with an Indo-Fijian Sikh ancestry and grew up in Nadi. Interestingly, Singh’s name means “Victorious Lion” which defines his three major championships achieved at The PGA Championships in 1998, The Masters in 2000, and the PGA Championship again in 2004.
Singh, grew up playing snooker, cricket, football and rugby. He diverted his active interest in golf since he could not afford to buy one golf ball. With hard work and determination, Singh eventually became a professional golfer in 1984 when he won the Malaysian PGA Championship. Unfortunately, his career dropped because of controversies relating to manipulating marks in his scorecards. Though Singh denied the allegations, he was still banned to compete in the Asian Tour.
Vijay, had his ups and downs in his sports journey. He did not win in the PGA tournament in 2001 but finished with the tour with 14 top 10 finishes. He won the Shell Houston Open at the TPC at the Woodlands in 2002. 2003 was a good year for “The Big Fijian” when he won four tournaments with 18 top 10 finishes. He had 27 tournaments played while Tiger Woods only had 18. He set score in the U.S Open and gained victory at the Phoenix Open, The EDS Byron Nelson Championships, John Deere Classic, and the FUNAI Classic at the Walt Disney.
In the 2004 season, Singh finished nine victories and was awarded the PGA of America’s Player of the Year. In 2005, Vijay dropped his ranking when he was defeated by Tiger Woods at the Ford Championship at Doral but claimed it again by gaining top three finishes at the end of the year.
Vijay Singh was the youngest golf player ever inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2006. Currently, Singh has won 58 tournament events, 34 of which were won on the PGA Tour, 13 on the European Tour, 1 on the Asian Tour, and 14 in other minor tournaments. The total number of victories that Singh has been noted as the most victories won by a non-American player.
