Drinks started flowing at
the Fiji Golf Club bar moments after Vijay Singh sank his birdie putt to clinch
the U.S Masters.
Club official Lyndall Fisher
said: ~Celebrations in the clubhouse will go on well into the night. Vijay played
so much of his early golf here.~
The 37-year-old Fijian
spent his formative years on the Pacific island course -- the country boasts
about 10 in total -- before leaving as a 19-year-old to forge his career on the
Asian circuit.
Fiji Prime Minister Mahendra
Chaudhry told local television: ~He has made Fiji a very proud country."
Singh's second win in a
major, achieved late on Sunday afternoon at Augusta, Monday morning in Fiji,
cemented his place as a national hero in a country where sporting success is
usually limited to Fiji's flamboyant seven-a-side rugby union players.
But he rarely visits the
country these days, spending most of his time in the United States and Europe.
Most of his family have moved to Australia.
Singh was taught to play
golf by his father Mohan, an airline mechanic. His two brothers, Mira and Krishna
Singh, are also golf professionals but have only modest careers compared with
their brother's illustrious achievements.
Singh's older sister Anita
said she and other family members prayed and watched Vijay's progress early on
Monday morning at the home he bought for his mother Parwati north of Sydney.
"We prayed all night,"
Anita Singh said.
"There was myself, my mother,
Vijay's brother Mira and his wife and daughter. We prayed that with God's blessing,
he would win and I think God listened to our prayers," she said.
Anita Singh said the family's
emotions rose and fell with every birdie and bogey.
"When he won it was such
a relief. The whole family was in tears and we held each other and cried tears
of joy," she said.
