Shubhankar Sharma is now ranked 26th on the DP World Tour Rankings
26 year old Shubhankar Sharma, who recorded two victories on the European Tour back in 2017-18, shot 72-69-69-69 (9-under 279) to finish third at the US$ 6mn Nedbank Golf Challenge at Gary Player CC in Sun City, South Africa. Nearly five years ago in Dec. 2017, Sharma won his first European Tour title at the Johannesburg Open roughly 150 km away from Sun City, the venue for the Nedbank Challenge.
Sharma entered the final round three-shots behind Thomas Detry and Rasmus Hojgaard, the 54 hole leaders at -9. He was paired with Tommy Fleetwood and Ryan Fox of New Zealand, and each of them shared the lead multiple times during the course of the round. Shubhankar was tied-for the lead after nine holes, before bad weather stopped play for a few hours.
When the players returned, Sharma birdied No.10 to take the solo-lead at -11, but a bogey on the next hole dropped him back into a tie with Richie Ramsay and Fox. Fleetwood, the defending champion, then made an exceptional eagle from the bunker on No.14 to take the lead by himself with four holes left.
Oh @TommyFleetwood1 , stop it!
The 2019 champion joins the lead with an eagle at the 14th.#NGC2022 pic.twitter.com/KNtPDnTGZN
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 13, 2022
Sharma birdied the 14th, but bogeys on the 16th and 17th killed his chances of victory. Fleetwood held on down the stretch and won the title with rounds of 70-70-70-67 (11-under 277).
Sharma birdied the 14th, but bogeys on the 16th and 17th killed his chances of victory. Fleetwood held on down the stretch and won the title with rounds of 70-70-70-67 (11-under 277).
Sharma is expected to move up to 26th from 50th on the DP World Tour Rankings. Sharma has played in 22 events in 2022, but has made only eight cuts and finished in the top 10 just twice, including a best-finish of tied-2nd at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in February. Sharma cashed in US$ 385,000 (₹3.1 crores) for his efforts in South Africa, which takes his season total earnings to US$ 1.1 million (₹8.8 crores).
Subhankar will now head to Dubai for the European Tour’s season finale, the US$ 10mn DP World Tour Championship from Nov. 17-20 in Dubai..
Due to a new arrangement between the European and US Tours, the top 10 players on the season ending European Tour rankings earn (US) PGA Tour playing privileges. After his 3rd place finish in South Africa, Sharma has an outside chance of cracking into the top-10 if he wins the big year-end championship, which offers 2000 ranking points to the winner. Let’s hope his recent form can run through the coming week.
Credits:-
Photo – Asian Tour