Shubhankar Sharma Buoyed By Dubai; Inspired By Maybank
India’s Shubhankar Sharma feels he kick started his season with an encouraging performance in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic last week ― where he finished in a tie for 22nd place ― and is hoping to build upon that result in Saudi Arabia this week.
“I was playing so much better than what the score showed,” said the 24-year-old, who would have finished much higher if not for dropped shots over the closing holes. He three-putted the 15th for a bogey, dropped another shot on the next, after failing to get up and down, and made the green in two on the par-five 18th but three-putted once more.
“It was kind of a bummer in the end but it is fine. You have to look at the bigger picture and take things into perspective: I had a decent week; I played pretty solid; I hit the ball really well. I obviously left a few shots out there, especially on the weekend, but I am really happy with the way I battled hard,” added Sharma, who has been paired today with Jhonattan Vegas from Venezuela and Brandon Stone from South Africa in the first round of the Saudi International.
(Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
“We gave it our all and conditions were not easy, especially the last two days when it got really windy. We hung in there and I am pretty pleased with the result, considering it is only the second event of the season. There is still a long way to go but it gives me something to build upon now.”
The Indian star missed the cut in Abu Dhabi the previous week: which he says what partly because a fog delay on day one, which saw him get stuck in poor weather and meant he had to finish his first round on Friday, and also because he drove the ball badly.
He said: “I really worked hard on my driving after missing the cut, and it paid off as my driving was one of the best parts of my game in Dubai, and that is why I had some good scores.”
CHANDIGARH BREAK
Sharma said he was also refreshed from a month’s break, at home in Chandigarh.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – NOVEMBER 19: Shubhankar Sharma of India plays his second shot on the 10th hole during Day One of the Joburg Open at Randpark Golf Club on November 19, 2020 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
He spent the time working with his long-time coach Jesse Grewal as well as Gurbaz Mann.
“Every time you go home you work on rectifying the mistakes of the previous year. Jesse has been my coach since I was 10 years old, while Gurbaz ― a former Asian Tour player ― came on board the last four or five years,” said Sharma.
“I worked a lot with Gurbaz: he built all my clubs, we got new irons in ― same model, just a newer set ― changed wedges and worked on the putter and the three wood, and did some tweaks. I worked on my swing with both of them. It was quite useful that one month I had back there. We worked on small things. I think every golfer has certain tendencies they are trying to avoid and it’s the same with me. I get into these bad habits and tendencies which I have to keep fixing.”
He also spent a lot of time in the gym trying help his body recover from a challenging 2020 playing on the European Tour.
He said: “Last year was especially long for me, especially towards the end; I was out there for almost five months. That definitely took a toll on the body, especially being in the bubble and not being able to travel, not being able to go outside, just being in the hotel and golf course. There were a lot of small issues in the body we had to fix. I was working a lot with my physiotherapist and my trainer back home. I think that helped me even more than going to practice.”
Sharma was stuck at home for about two months at the beginning of last year when COVID-19 first put the world into lockdown. He didn’t play any golf during that period, apart from practicing his chipping at a park in front of his house.
RETURN TO EUROPE
But he said the layoff did allow him to reset mentally and physically before returning to action on the European Tours, for their UK Swing in August.
“I was not at my best in the beginning,” said Sharma, who missed the cut in five out of his first six events.
“I was struggling with my swing – I was slightly rusty – and the weather in Europe. I made some mental mistakes in the first few rounds and that saw me exit before the weekend. But you learn so much more from being out on Tour compared with being home and practicing. You get feedback from playing in tournaments and that really helps.”
“But after that, since Portugal in September, I started to play really well. I was really happy when I played well all the weeks when it was really cold: the BMW PGA Championship, the events in Ireland and Scotland ― it was really cold and we don’t grow up playing in that weather in Asia.”
MAYBANK MAGIC
While this week he will be looking to build on his Dubai result, he will also hope to draw on what he achieved on this day three years ago: winning the 2018 Maybank Championship in Malaysia.
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – FEBRUARY 04: Shubhankar Sharma of India poses with the trophy after winning the 2018 Maybank Championship at Saujana Golf and Country Club (Photo by Arep Kulal/Asian Tour/Asian Tour via Getty Images,)
“Maybank changed my life,” said Sharma.
“It got me into a lot of big events: I played all the Majors that year.”
He won the Maybank tournament ― which was joint-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour ― after shooting a final round 10-under-par 62, having started Sunday four off the lead.
The win also came less than two months after he claimed the Joburg Open ― which was also jointly-sanctioned and his maiden win on both Tours.
“I have great memories of that 62. I remember going out on the last day, I wasn’t really thinking of winning. I had a fever the week before and I was just starting to feel better that week,” he said.
“I was just hoping for a good round on the last day and finishing in top 10. I didn’t make birdie on the first hole, which is an easy par five, but I made birdie on four, five, six, seven and nine. I was five under on the front.
“It was one of those days when I wasn’t missing too many shots, and everything fell into place. I looked at the leaderboard on 16 and realized I was two or three ahead but the leaders were way behind me, on nine or 10, and so they had a lot more holes to play.
“I just told myself to keep giving myself chances and that it is not over until it’s over. I was eight under [for the round], missed a birdie on 16 but birdied 17 and 18 and once I did that I knew it would be very hard to catch me. It was a great feeling, I left it all out there.”
Berry Henson is one of the Asian Tour’s great personalities and, indeed, success stories: since earning his card a decade ago, he has finished in the top-50 on the Tour’s Order of Merit every year, bar one. As the game is temporarily in “recess” in Asia, we thought it an opportune time to speak to him about his career playing in the region and ask him how has been spending his time during the coronavirus pandemic. As we found out, he has been busy …
It is fair to say Berry Henson has enjoyed the best of both worlds: the two worlds being California, “The Best Coast”, as it is popularly known, and “The Kingdom” of Thailand ― the former being his place of birth and home in the United States, and the latter his adopted home for the past 10 years.
You would probably only leave California if you were going somewhere as idyllic as Thailand, but, in Henson’s case it was also a matter of urgency: he needed to secure status on one of the world’s leading Tours ― and the Asian Tour was his last chance.
JAKARTA, INDONESIA – AUGUST 30: Berry Henson of USA pictured during the second round of the Bank BRI Indonesia Open at Pondok Indah Golf Course on August 30, 2019 in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Photo by Arep Kulal/Asian Tour/Asian Tour via Getty Images)
IN THE BEGINNING
“I remember the first day I landed in Thailand; I felt so far away from home; it was wild,” says Henson, from his condo at Black Mountain Golf Club, in Hua Hin, Thailand, this week.
“Now that I have been here for so long, it feels like I have been here my whole life. I almost feel I have lived here before, had another life here. I am lucky, I got a home here, and I have got a home in Palm Springs.”
The American arrived in Asia with just US$5,000 in his bank account and as he says: “I had one sponsor and he said, ‘hey it’s sink or swim, we either get a card or we are done’.”
There was probably no better incentive to succeed in Asia than that and it certainly proved to be the catalyst for the birth of one of the Tour’s most consistent performers.
He won the First Stage of the 2011 Qualifying School, and finished 11th in the Final Stage. Then five events later he claimed the Clearwater Masters, in Malaysia, on the Asian Development Tour, and two weeks after that he won the ICTSI Philippine Open, at Wack Wack Golf & Country Club.
“Both those victories were wire-to-wire, not a lot of people know that. Everything kind of snow balled for me out here,” adds the 41-year-old.
Surprisingly, he has not won on the Asian Tour since his victory in the Philippines but that has been compensated by consistently playing well, week in, week out, over an extended period ― something that very few golfers can achieve.
QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND – FEBRUARY 28: Berry Henson of United States looks on during day two of the 2020 New Zealand Golf Open at The Hills on February 28, 2020 in Queenstown, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
“MR CONSISTENCY”
He comfortably retained his Card in 2011, finishing 37th on the Merit list – replenishing his ailing bank account with nearly US$100,000 in earnings.
In 2018, he enjoyed his best finish on the Merit list, ending in 11th position with close to US$300,000 in winnings; while it was only when he was injured in 2016 that he finished outside the top-50, in 93rd place.
He says preparation has been the key to his success.
“Ever since I have come over here, I have felt that I am in the top percentile in preparing for golf tournaments. I feel that I am really good at picking the golf course apart. And if you look through my career, you can see I always played well on courses we have played for the first time.
“I know how to prep my game and pick apart a golf course a little bit quicker than, I think, most of the other guys do in Asia. And there are courses I always play well every year, Sentosa is one of them, Bangladesh I have always played well.”
He says he also has an ability to dig deep, never give up and make a cut when he is not playing well.
He adds: “Another thing that has allowed me to play consistently, is I have confidence over here, I enjoy playing here. I live at Black Mountain ― who have sponsored me now for seven years ― I live in Thailand, and so I am just able to prepare and feel very comfortable.”
His attribute of not giving up was never more evident than when he was beset by two wrists injuries in 2016 and 2017. He had two expensive surgeries on each wrist and played on a medical exemption in 2018.
Many may have crumbled under the pressure but he proceeded to put together what he considers his best year on Tour: he finished in the top-25 on 10 occasions, including a second-place finish in the Mercuries Taiwan Masters and five top-10s.
“I go very well when my back is up against the wall; I’ve always been a fighter. But I never had that really hot year like Jazz – but I feel like I have the ability and I am still trying. I have always played well in front, I just have not got in front enough,” says Henson, whose most recent win was the Long Beach Open in the US in 2013.
HONG KONG, CHINA – JANUARY 09: Berry Henson of United States tees off the first hole during the first round of the Hong Kong Open at the Hong Kong Golf Club on January 9, 2020 in Hong Kong. (Photo by Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
KEEPING BUSY
And, so what has the outgoing American been up to since COVID-19 so unceremoniously stopped play on the Asian Tour, in March last year?
“It’s been difficult for everybody. The hardest part of the whole situation has been trying to decide when am I going to start playing golf again. I have kind of been going back and forth about going back to the US and I could have had a couple of starts in Europe, but I decided to stay [in Thailand] and see what was happening with the pandemic,” says the American.
“It has not been easy, it has been very difficult for me. I have always been a structured person and it’s been hard to maintain structure when there has been so much uncertainty. So I feel like I have got ready for golf about three times, and every time I get ready there is bad news. So that part for me has been pretty tough.”
He worked on gaining more swing speed during the first part of last year ― which caused a few small injuries, because as he says: “I have a mind of an 18-year-old and body of a 40-year-old”.
And, in addition to hitting the gym hard, he chose to pursue a couple of other interesting avenues.
JAKARTA, INDONESIA – AUGUST 30: Berry Henson of USA pictured during the second round of the Bank BRI Indonesia Open at Pondok Indah Golf Course on August 30, 2019 in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Photo by Arep Kulal/Asian Tour/Asian Tour via Getty Images)
“I had to extend my visa, so the option was to get an education visa and study Thai. I studied Thai for four months. I did that two times a week and really picked up much better Thai vocabulary – which is a real benefit to my lifestyle,” says the American.
“But the major thing I have been doing is trading. I have always done some sort of trading, on the stock exchange, or trading cryptocurrency, but I have only dabbled in it since we have been playing but now since we have had time off I have really got into actively trading. And I started to learn about option trading and I have done very, very well. So I have turned into a workout fiend/Thai language student/day trader. And I have definitely played more videos game than I ever had before.”
More recently he also launched a social media challenge called #Thaispinner ― which sees players, some as prominent as Thai star Kiradech Aphibarnrat, submit videos showing them hit chip shots, played with the ball outside the back foot, which results in loads of back spin.
Thailand’s Thammanoon Srirot even sent one in of him skimming a shot across a lake.
Henson rejoined the Asian Tour’s Tournament Players’ Committee toward the end of last year, and is very keen to help the Tour ― and in so doing, repay them for helping his career.
“I have always tried to help the guys build their status and that is kind of what #Thaispinner is part of. Maybe some people don’t look at it that way but I like doing that stuff because it helps the Asian Tour. Those guys are so talented and everybody sees it and thinks it’s cool. Not many people in the world realize what these guys do around the greens. Building that content for not just the Thai players but the Asian Tour brings a lot of value.”
Clearly, and impressively, there is no time to rest for Berry Henson, even with an ongoing global pandemic.
Australia’s Wade Ormsby and American Trevor Simsby will rub shoulders with the game’s elite next month, having been invited to play in the first World Golf Championships (WGC) event of the year.
Thanks to their current first and second placings, respectively, on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, they will compete in the World Golf Championships at The Concession, at The Concession Golf Club, in Florida, from February 25 to 28.
The US10.5 million event was due to be played in Mexico but logistical challenges, posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, meant the location had to be changed.
The news could not have come a better time for Ormsby, who is in form having produced a fine performance at the weekend in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship – the opening event of the season on the European Tour.
He came home in a tie for 12th place and earned a lucrative cheque for €105,430 (approximately US$128,000), for his joint best performance in a Rolex Series event.
Ormsby claimed the Hong Kong Open last January, for the second time in his career, and shot to the top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
SHAH ALAM, MALAYSIA – MARCH 08: Trevor Simsby of USA celebrates with his caddie after sinking in a birdie on the 18th hole to win the champinship during the second round play-off at the final round of the Bandar Malaysia Open at Kota Permai Golf and Country Club on March 08, 2020 in Shah Alam, Malaysia. (Photo by How Foo Yeen/Getty Images)
And, Simsby soon joined him near the top of the Merit list by winning the Bandar Malaysian Open in March, before the pandemic brought the season to an abrupt halt.
The American had earned his playing rights for 2020 by finishing in seventh place on the Asian Development Tour rankings, the year before.
This will mark the third time Ormsby has played in a WGC event, while Simsby will be making his debut.
The WGC-Mexico Championship has been hosted in Mexico since 2017. American Patrick Reed claimed the title last year; his compatriot Dustin Johnson triumphed in 2019 and 2017; while another American Phil Mickelson won in 2018.
Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, the reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit champion, and American John Catlin, a double winner in Europe last year, are among a strong contingent of Asian Tour members competing in this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship ― the opening event of the season on the European Tour.
They are joined by Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Australians Wade Ormsby and Scott Hend, India’s Shubhankar Sharma and Gaganjeet Bhullar, American Kurt Kitayama and South African Justin Harding.
The US$8 million event is being played at Abu Dhabi Golf Club and is a Rolex Series event. The tournament is also the start of the Tour’s “Desert Swing” with events to follow in Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
Despite a growing resume, Jazz ― who has claimed six victories on the Asian Tour ― has yet to win a European Tour title.
He spent much of last year competing on the PGA Tour, where he made a fine debut in The Master, finishing in a tie for 51st place.
Catlin, on the other hand, broke through in Europe in 2020, winning his first European Tour title at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters in September before triumphing in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, a few weeks later. The American’s skill set had been honed on the Asian Tour, where he won four titles and two Asian Development Tour trophies.
(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Between them, the Asian Tour members, teeing off on Thursday, boast 25 European Tour titles: Thongchai has eight, Kiradech four, Hend three, and Kitayama, Ormsby and Sharma two each. Both Bhullar and Harding have claimed one apiece.
Ormsby currently leads the Asian Tour Order of Merit, thanks to his win in the Hong Kong Open last January. But the season was cut short quickly after that, with only four events played, due to the coronas virus pandemic.
England’s Lee Westwood is the defending champion this week. His success last year marked the start of a brilliant year that saw him crowned the Race to Dubai winner in December.
“I’ve always played pretty well in this part of the world,” said Westwood, an eight-time winner on the Asian Tour.
“And, you know, my two best results for the last year were Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the very beginning to the very end of the year. So I’ll be hoping for that again this year.”
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – JANUARY 19: Wade Ormsby of Australia walks on the course during practice ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on January 19, 2021 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
A star-studded field is competing this week, including England’s Tommy Fleetwood ― the champion in 2017 and 2018.
Also playing are Germany’s Martin Kaymer, who is the only three-time winner of the event ― he triumphed in 2008, 2010 and 2011. He is one of nine Major champions in the field, alongside Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, American Justin Thomas, Irishmen Padraig Harrington ― the European Ryder Cup Captain ― and Shane Lowry, England’s Justin Rose and Danny Willet, and Swede Henrik Stenson, Danny Willett.
American Matt Kuchar was one of the marquee players at the SMBC Singapore Open last year, along with England’s Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson from Sweden. Having won bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, behind gold medalist Rose, and silver-medal recipient Stenson, he arrived, somewhat, in their shadow. However, he proceeded to put the record straight in Singapore, by conquering the mighty Serapong course and departing like a gold medal champion. We look back at what was an epic edition of the prestigious tournament ― the final round of which was played on this day, a year ago.
Much was made of Matt Kuchar’s brave recovery from a triple-bogey eight on the seventh hole on The Serapong at Sentosa Golf Club to win the SMBC Singapore Open last year.
With England’s Justin Rose and two of Asia’s most exciting young golfers, Jazz Janewattananond from Thailand and Korean Joohyung Kim, hot on his heels the tall American shifted gear and toured the back nine in three under to triumph.
Picture by Paul Lakatos/Lagardére Sports.
But, in retrospect, there were a number of decisive moments during his march to victory ― not least an astonishing nine-under-par 62 on Saturday and a truly brave birdie on the 72nd hole, where calamity could have so easily intervened.
Kuchar, or “Kooch” as he is popularly known, was playing in Singapore for the first time and had been dialed-in all week. He fired a 66 on the first day to sit one back from the leader, Japan’s Kosuke Hamamoto.
He trailed Jazz ― an expert in this event having won it in 2019 and finished joint fourth in 2018 ― by two at the halfway mark, after shooting a 68.
And that sensational 62 on day three saw him open up a three-shot advantage from Jazz and Filipino Miguel Tabuena.
Picture by Paul Lakatos/Lagardére Sports.
The 62, was the work of a master practitioner, and was the lowest round since the Singapore Open moved to its permanent home at Sentosa Golf Club in 2005, with just three players having shot 63: Angel Cabrera of Argentina, the 2007 champion, South Africa’s George Coetzee and Song Younghan of Korea, who won in 2016.
Kuchar disarmed the Serapong with long, accurate driving, pinpoint approach shots and heat-seeking putts. Employing his trademark arm-lock putting style that he has used effectively since 2011, Kuchar needed just 25 putts in his eye-popping round that thrilled the large galleries who sent howls of approval around Sentosa.
The then 41 year old set up his birdie opportunities, the majority of them from close range, by hitting 11 out of 14 fairways with an average driving distance of 310 yards and finding 15 out of the 18 greens in regulation.
Picture by Paul Lakatos/Lagardére Sports.
He birdied the first, second, fourth, seventh, 10th, 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th in a round that will live long in the memory for those lucky enough to have witnessed it live.
On the final day, when Kuchar ― ranked world number 24 at the time ― birdied the par-five fourth to stay comfortably out in front, victory almost seemed a mere formality for the American.
But, from nowhere, a nightmare hole seven opened the door to his rivals.
He pulled his tee shot left into the trees and from there he had a bizarre air shot when trying to extricate his ball from the roots of a tree. After getting his ball back into the fairway, at the second attempt, he then lost a ball after hooking his approach into the undergrowth to the left of the green.
Picture by Paul Lakatos/Lagardére Sports.
His sixth shot found the green but he then faced an 80-foot putt and the strong possibility of a three putt. However, he drained his second putt, from 10 feet, for a triple, which saw him fall back into a tie with playing partner Jazz.
That setback would have been the beginning of the end for many but, clearly, eight was enough for Kuchar, as he responded magnificently to the challenge.
He did not drop a shot thereafter and birdied 11 and 16 to regain control and had a two-shot lead from Rose, playing in the group ahead, on the par-five 18th.
Trying to make sure he stayed clear of the lake on the left, he pushed his tee into a trap on the right, where he was fortunate the ball did not plug.
Picture by Paul Lakatos/Lagardére Sports.
He was left with a tricky bunker shot and could only splash it out into the fairway.
The American was then left with a long-shot of 230 yards to the green ― a huge challenge in the circumstances.
Remarkably, he struck one of the finest shot of his career to 20 feet and promptly holed the birdie putt for a famous victory.
His final round 70 saw him finish with a four round aggregate of 18-under-par 266 ― for which he earned a winners’ cheque for US$180,000.
“Golf and life have a lot of similarities,” said Kuchar, in his post round interview.
“When you face difficult times, it’s how you persevere and overcome those things.
“To make a great turnaround and play a great back nine to close out the tournament with birdies on the 16th and 18th was a real thrill. I’m awfully proud of being able to bounce back from adversity and not let hard things get the better of me.
Seven was a disastrous hole to make triple bogey there. I felt like I was cruising along and had a four-shot lead at that point and it was awfully comfortable.”
It was the 17th win of his career and first on the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organization.
Rose, helped by a brilliant back nine of four-under-par 31, finished three behind in second place after returning a 67.
Jazz took third spot thanks to a 71 while Kim, the 17-year-old wonder kid who had claimed his first title on the Asian Tour a few months earlier, ended in fourth place, after also signing for a 71 ― marking him down as a potential future champion of Singapore’s national Open.
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