India’s Sharma ready to take on the world
Asia’s No.1 to match up with Rose, Stenson
JAKARTA: India’s Shubhankar Sharma, the newly crowned Asian Tour Order of Merit champion, is ready to put up a performance worthy of his status as the continent’s best golfer when the Indonesian Masters begins tomorrow.
Sharma’s glorious run this season started with his second Asian Tour win in Malaysia in February followed by a tiedninth finish at the World Golf Championships in Mexico in March, where he led in the second and third rounds.
He went on to play in all four major championships this year and his season was further sweetened by three top-10s in India, Malaysia and Hong Kong which would eventually give him an unassailable lead on the Habitat for Humanity Standings.
Sharma’s achievements have not gone unnoticed by the tournament’s marquee players Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson who are also expected to light up the Indonesian Masters with their star power along with the country’s leading golfer, Danny Masrin.
While Rose is the highest-ranked player at the Indonesian Masters this week, the world No.2 is under no illusions it will be a walk in the park as he prepares to put up a stout defence of his title in the US$750,000 season-ending event.
Playing in Indonesia for the first time, Stenson is aware of the stiff Asian challenge and is hopeful of putting up a strong performance despite his lack of experience playing at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club.
“I’ve played on this course many times and I do know a few things about it. I’m looking forward to playing well and having a good week,” Sharma said.
“After the Maybank Championship in Malaysia, I had a good lead on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and I really wanted to finish right on top. Now that I’ve done it, I’m feeling very relaxed. You always want to play well in every event that you play in and for this week, I want to give my best shot and try to win.
“But right now, it’s very satisfying as I’ve done what I’ve set out to do and I’m really happy. Winning the Asian Tour Order of Merit means a lot to me as it’s what all of us want to do. This is our home tour and this is where we all started. This is the last event of the year on the Asian Tour and I want to play my best and sign off what has already been a very satisfying year.”
Rose said: “I have always had the mentality that the golf course doesn’t recognise who is the best player in the world. I’d don’t tee off ahead of these guys because of my ranking. We tee off together with the same score on Thursday. It is about a great week’s work. There is no complacency from that point of view. It is always good to be here and try and play my best.
“We are seeing Asian players crop up all over the word and compete at the highest level. More and more players are graduating from the Asian Tour. I think it is a sign of things to come. If you look at the LPGA, they are strongly represented unbelievably well by Asia.”