Dubai: Shubhankar Sharma immediately turned his attentions to the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit after becoming the first Indian to win the European Tour’s Rookie of the Year award on Sunday.
The 22-year-old’s nearest rookie rivals Lucas Herbert and Sam Horsfield couldn’t overtake him in the Race to Dubai at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates, despite him carding a final round of eight-over 80 to finish tied for 41st at two-under.
Herbert and Horsfield needed to finish inside the top three in Dubai while hoping Sharma finished last, and if Sharma had finished inside the top 20, both would have needed to have finished inside the top two to overtake him for the rookie prize.
As it happened Horsfield was tied 41st at two-under with Sharma, while Herbert finished tied 49th at two-over.
With no time to celebrate, Sharma — who carded seven bogies, a double bogey and two birdies on Sunday — will now have to learn fast lessons from his horror show in Dubai if he is to close out the Asian Tour Order of Merit as well.
He currently leads the Asian money-list by over US$130,000 with six events remaining.
“There will be no celebrating [the European Tour Rookie of the Year] for now because I still have some events left [in Asia],” he said.
“I just have to look at the good rounds I’ve had and learn from the mistakes I’ve made. Today was one of those rounds, so it’s just about learning from the mistakes.
“It’s not as though I’m playing bad it’s just slightly up and down. The deep rounds are really deep and the bad ones are slightly bad. I just need to figure out what’s happening there, but I feel like my game is in a good space, I just need to put four good rounds together over the next few weeks.”
Of the six Asian Tour events remaining Sharma will play Hong Kong (November 22-25), Mauritius (November 29 to December 2) and possibly the season-ender in Indonesia (December 13-16).
“I’m not really thinking about it [the Asian Tour Order of Merit] too much, I’ve played those courses before and they are very nice, so hopefully I’ll have my game in tact for next weekend.
“I didn’t even know until a few weeks ago that I’d be considered a rookie or not as I didn’t have a card before the season,” he said of his rookie win. “I won and came onto the scene,” he added of the unorthodox way he got onto the European Tour by winning the co-sanctioned Jo’Burg Open last December before following it up with the Malaysian Open win in February. “It’s great and definitely something I’ll cherish,” he said of the award, gained from those two victories and five top 10 finishes.
“You can never be satisfied with anything in golf, you just have to keep pushing yourself. I still have a lot to learn and it’s just about building on that. I’ve had a great year and hopefully next year will be better than this.”
With the rookie win Sharma gains and exemption to next year’s Open Championship, but more such opportunities will surely await if he can add to the Asian Order of Merit as well.
