14 February 2019: Indian star Shubhankar Sharma is the star attraction this week at the Classic Golf and Country Club. The presence of Shubhankar leads to additional points this week. At the end of the second round, he was in tied eighth as a result of his 68. The two-time European Tour winner spoke about how excited he was to return to his home tour after over a year.
Here are some reflections from Shubhankar in a free-flowing conversation with the PGTI TOUR.
“Since my tied sixth finish in Hong Kong last year, I’ve not been as consistent as I would’ve liked, although I had a decent top-30 finish at the Dubai Desert Classic last month. So in order to get my confidence back with a good finish, I decided to play on the PGTI this week. Now that we have Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points on the PGTI, one can hope to pick up some crucial points with a top performance here.
“It’s been fantastic to return to my home tour as it all began for me here on the PGTI. I was delighted just to meet everyone especially my friends. It’s also great to be back at Classic as this was my home course for about three years before I turned professional.
“I feel my game is now on the right track since I’m hitting it good and everything else seems to be falling in place.
Shubhankar was thrilled about the positive impact the introduction of world ranking points will have on the PGTI and Indian golf.
“Indian golf has been on the rise for quite some time now. Our golfers have been constantly making a mark in Asia and Europe, the level of competition on the PGTI has been improving with every year, so I feel we were due to get world ranking points on the PGTI. Now that we’ve got them, it opens the doors for more Indian players to make an impact on the world stage and also for the world to recognize the kind of talent that we have in India.
“I feel the introduction of world ranking points will also help in improving the fields at PGTI events as Indian players who are Asian Tour regulars will have that extra incentive and motivation of playing on their home tour.
“It’s not easy earning world ranking points abroad, so Indians who have Asian Tour cards will definitely think seriously about playing in India. That will give them the opportunity to play in familiar conditions where they are confident of performing well and at the same time picking up vital world ranking points.
“I myself will try and play on the PGTI as much as I can as decent finishes here will help me make progress in the world rankings.”
