Rookie history

Dubai, November 18 

Shubhankar Sharma became the first Indian to emerge as the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year on the European Tour despite a disappointing final round of 80 at the DP World Tour Championships on Sunday.

No Indian has won the Rookie of the Year award on the European Tour, though three Indians — Arjun Atwal (1995), Shiv Kapur (2005) and 

C Muniyappa (2009) — emerged as Rookie of the Year on the Asian Tour.

Interestingly, the 22-year-old Sharma is the third Asian in the last four years to win this European Tour accolade, after Byeong Hun An (2015) and Wang Jeunghun (2016). 

“It has been a great season and to come out with this award, about which I knew nothing till a few years ago, is indeed a positive,” Sharma said.

However, Sharma had a disappointing end to the European Tour season as he carded an 8-over in the final round of the DP World Tour Championships.

Sharma, starting the day at 10-under and tied-ninth, had two birdies, seven bogeys and a triple-bogey to sign off tied-41st.

With his nearest rivals in the race for the best rookie award — Lucas Herbert (tied-49th) and Sam Horsfield (tied-41st) — also having a poor week, Sharma took the honours.

“I would have loved to finish better, but a series of small things like poor decisions, poor hitting, poor putting and pace of play affected my performance,” he said. 

“It is part of the game, so I learnt a lot. In the end, it was nice to come out as the Rookie of the Year and have a place at the 2019 British Open,” he added.

“I am now looking forward to the Asian Tour, where I am leading the Order of Merit. For that I have to ensure a good next week in Hong Kong,” said Sharma, who is in line to emulate Jyoti Randhawa (2002), Atwal (2003), Jeev Milkha Singh (2006 and 2008) and Anirban Lahiri (2015) as the No. 1 golfer in Asia.

Another positive for Sharma was that he finished 28th in the Race to Dubai standings to guarantee himself a place at the British Open at Royal Portrush next year as the top-30 get a spot.

The Race to Dubai honours went to Europe’s biggest star of 2018 — Francesco Molinari. The Italian won his maiden PGA Tour title and his first Major — the British Open — this year.

Sharma, who started the season with a tied-10th finish at the Hong Kong Open a year ago, won two events on the European Tour — the Joburg Open in December last year and the Maybank Championships in February.

Through the season, Sharma played 26 events, including all the Majors. Sharma also figured in all the four WGC Championships. — PTI