KEY POINTS:
India's Jeev Milka Singh has ensured New Zealand golfer Mark Brown has a fight on his hands for this year's Asian Tour No 1 crown.
Singh trails Brown by US$150,775 ($253,275) on the moneylist with eight events remaining on the schedule.
Three events in succession next month will go close to determining who captures the title.
The trio of tournaments carry combined prizemoney of US$12.5 million, starting with the US$5m HSBC Champions which begins on November 6 in Shanghai, China.
Following that are the US$5m Singapore Open and US$2.5m Hong Kong Open.
Singh knows that a strong showing over the three weeks will help secure him a second Asian Tour No 1 ranking after he first clinched the title in 2006.
Brown has led the moneylist since March when he won the Sail Open and Johnnie Walker Classic in India in successive weekends.
Like Singh, he has spent much of the remainder of the year in Europe, but his Asian earnings presently stand at US$740,768.
"Mark and I have a good contest going and I know just how determined he is to win the number one title just as I am to do the same," Singh said.
"I've won order of Merit title and I would love to win a second and while Mark has a bit of a lead at present it's all going to come down to who does best in Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong.
"There's huge prizemoney in those events and win or a top finish in any of them would set you up for the number one title."
The winner of the Asian moneylist is guaranteed automatic entry into next year's British Open and a number of the World Golf Championship events.
As well, Augusta National officials are also known to recognise the efforts of the best player in Asia with an invitation to contest the Masters in April.
- NZPA
