Shubhankar becomes 1st Indian to win European Tour Rookie of the Year award

New Delhi: Young golfer Shubhankar Sharma capped a dream season on the European Tour by becoming the first Indian to win the tours Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award.

Sharma achieved the feat soon after finishing 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.

Sharma, the current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader, started the season with a tied 10th 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 10th 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 final round of 62 to take the golfing 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 No.1 Luke Donald of England, as the only players in the last 20 years to win twice in their first 20 events.

Sharma, thereafter, added another feather to his cap with a memorable World Golf Championships debut at the WGC — Mexico Championship where he finished tied ninth after having led the field at the end of 54 holes.