Forget Tiger, Singh's the main story now

Yet those experiences have only produced a character who, on the course, is too robotic and emotionless to bother trying to win over the galleries and who, off the course, seems just plain taciturn. The golfing press don't love Singh and he doesn't talk to them unless he has to. He feels he's been burned once too often.

At last, though, whether he's bothered or not, Singh is grinding down the cynics. By sheer weight of achievement, he is forcing everyone to accept that what he is doing is interesting. Very interesting.

Tomorrow sees his first appearance in Europe since he won his duel with Woods at the Deutsche Bank Championship to end Tiger's five-year reign as world No1. He's looking for his sixth win in his past seven outings, having landed his third Major, the US PGA, and could still end this season with $10million (£5.6m) on the US Tour. Not even Woods has done that.

Only Hurricane Jeanne, apparently, has been capable of blowing him off course, forcing him to miss the world championship event in Ireland last week and to do a few jobs around his battered Florida mansion instead.

So now, after about $50m (£28m) earned and 45 events won worldwide over two decades, the 41-year-old has become the story. We can expect him to cling on to his No1 spot tenaciously, even with Ernie Els, fresh from his Kilkenny triumph, hot in pursuit after overtaking Woods as the No2.

For while Woods's loss of form may have something to do with the distractions of the new Mrs Woods, the focus of dad-and-family-man Singh never seems to waver.

He still works harder than anyone on the range, famously leathering between 500 and 1,000 practice balls a day. As one of his best friends in golf, Jim Thorpe, said: "His attitude is, 'As hard as Tiger works, I work harder and I'm going to beat him'."

Now he is. Belying the languid elegance of his striking, which makes him seem so serene, something inside seems to push Singh almost obsessively. Maybe, it is the feeling of injustice he clearly still harbours about the infamous episode that cost him a two-year ban from the Asian Tour as a 22-year-old.

It was alleged that, impoverished and needing a good finish to keep his tour card, he changed a score. He denied this and has tired of having to defend himself. "Why should I admit to cheating, even 15 years ago, if I didn't? Just so you people in the Press won't keep bringing it up?" he said in a rare magazine interview.

Legend has it that after he won the Masters four years ago, he left Augusta National muttering to noone in particular: "Kiss my ass, everybody."

A long-standing chip on his shoulder then? Only with the media, say mates such as Els, who reckon Singh has particularly had a raw deal for being portayed as some sort of chauvinistic bogeyman just because he declared, honestly, what he thought about Sorenstam's participation in the Colonial. He may be a bit of an outsider, but the Vijay they talk about is a real pro's pro: generous and loyal with colleagues. Apparently, he's far more likely to help a lowly tour colleague with tips and advice than Woods.

After he recently eclipsed Tiger as No1, Singh teased the press corps about the demise of their beloved Woods with the observation: "You guys look so sad. Man, come on, it's not the end of the world."

For once, he had them all laughing. Perhaps, having won everything else, this remarkable sportsman's biggest triumph may yet end up being the winning of a few hard hearts.