SHUBHANKAR SHARMA CAPS OFF DREAM SEASON
BECOMES FIRST INDIAN TO WIN EUROPEAN TOUR ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD
Shubhankar Sharma capped
off a dream season on the
European Tour as he became
the fi rst Indian to win the
tour’s Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year Award.
S
harma achieved the feat soon after
¿ nishing tied 41st at the season-
ending DP World Tour Championship
event in Dubai. The 22-year-old
claimed a creditable 28th place on the Race
to Dubai rankings thanks to his two wins
and three other top-10s. His total points for
the season stood at an impressive 1,431,741.
Shubhankar, the current Asian Tour Order of
Merit leader, started the season with a tied
tenth at the UBS Hong Kong Open and two
weeks later claimed his maiden international
victory at the European Tour’s Joburg Open
in just his tenth start on the continental tour.
He soon followed that up with his second
title at the Maybank Championship in
Malaysia where he carded a phenomenal
¿ nal round of 62 to take the gol¿ ng world
by storm.
The Chandigarh-based golfer thus joined
previous Rookies of the Year, Spaniard Jon
Rahm and Korean Jeunghun Wang, as well
as former World Number 1 Luke Donald of
England, as the only players in the last 20
years to win twice in their ¿ rst 20 events.
Sharma, thereafter, added another feather
to his cap with a memorable World Golf
Championships debut at the WGC – Mexico
Championship where he ¿ nished tied ninth
after having led the ¿ eld at the end of 54
holes. The outstanding performance in
Mexico earned him a special invitational to
the Masters.
The very next week, Shubhankar posted a
season. I’m very happy to be on the Tour
here.
“I’m sure a lot of other great players before
have won this award, I’m really happy that
I was lucky enough to win it this year. I
played well and won twice and had a few
top tens, so very happy.
Shubhankar Sharma - 2018 European
Tour Rookie of the Year
(Picture Courtesy: Asian Tour) “To win twice and just to learn so much on
this Tour with the best players in the world,
I would say I had a great year.”
tied seventh at the Hero Indian Open on his
home soil that helped him climb to a career-
high 64th in the world rankings and also
take the lead in the Race to Dubai. Sharma
ended up playing all four Majors and all four
WGC events in the year. Sharma joins an illustrious list of European
Tour Rookies of the Year including Nick
Faldo, Sandy Lyle, José María Olazábal,
Colin Montgomerie, Thomas Bjørn, Sergio
Garcia, Ian Poulter, Martin Kaymer, Brooks
Koepka and last year’s winner Jon Rahm.
Shubhankar’s consistent performances in
the season saw him enter the season-ending
DP World Tour Championship at 26th in
the Rankings but he was not guaranteed the
Rookie prize, with Lucas Herbert and Sam
Hors¿ eld still in with a chance to overtake
him at the last event. Finishing inside the top-30 on the Race to
Dubai, has now also guaranteed Shubhankar,
currently the highest-ranked Indian in the
world at 123, a spot at The Open at Royal
Portrush next year.
After a forgettable ¿ nal round of eight-
over-80 in Dubai, Sharma slipped 32 places
to tied 41st at two-under-286 but that was
enough for him to seal the prize for best
Rookie.
Shubhankar said, “You can only do it once
in your career and I’m very happy with the
GolfPlus
Sharma is now staring at another major
career milestone as he looks to capitalize on
his lead in the Asian Tour Order of Merit in
the ¿ nal stretch of the season to emerge as
Asia No. 1. He will look to emulate fellow
Indians Jyoti Randhawa (2002), Atwal
(2003), Jeev Milkha Singh (2006 and 2008)
and Anirban Lahiri (2015), who have lifted
the crown in the past.
DECEMBER
2018
69