Shubhankar all set for maiden WGC in Mexico
8 Feb 2018 5:40 PM GMT
Naucalpan: Lifted by two wins in as many months, India's latest golfing star Shubhankar Sharma has earned his maiden spot in the World Golf Championships (WGC) to be held at the Club de Golf Chapultepec, here next month.
The entry into the tournament, to be held from March 1 to 4, will also fuel Subhankar's ambition and dream of making it to the PGA Tour ultimately.
Shubhankar, who earned his breakthrough win in Joburg, which also fetched him a spot into the 2018 Open Championships at Carnoustie, added a second European Tour and Asian Tour co-sanctioned title in Malaysia last weekend with a stunning 10-under 62.
His stunning rise has seen him jump from 202 last year to 72nd place on the World Golf Rankings ahead of Anirban Lahiri (76th).
Shubhankar is now leading both the Habitat for Humanity standings on Asian Tour and the Race to Dubai rankings standings on European Tour. The latter is what got him the spot into the Mexico event.
"I'm really excited as it was my goal to get into one WGC event this year. I knew I had to be in top-10 in Europe to get it done. I never imagined I would win in Malaysia as I wasn't in contention going into the last day (he was four back) and there were so many players on the leaderboard," he said.
"I'm really happy how things have changed for me. I can't wait to play against the world's best in Mexico," Shubhankar added.
Shubhankar is eager to follow in the trail of close friends and senior Indian colleagues Lahiri and Arjun Atwal. The former is a two-time Presidents Cup star and a regular on the PGA TOUR while latter is India's first and to-date only winner on the world's premier circuit.
"The goal is to win the bigger tournaments and to play on higher tours. That's what I'm looking at and I'm very focused about it. Playing on the PGA TOUR has always been my dream," he said. Shubhankar also hopes to qualify for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin later in March.
For Shubhankar, the next goal will be to break into top-50 which can potentially reward him with invites to the Masters Tournament in April and THE PLAYERS Championship,
which is the PGA Tour's flagship tournament, in May. "If I can get into top-50, I'll get some opportunities in America and I will cherish those opportunities," he said.
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