Shubhankar Sharma reaffirms his self-belief at the British Open | Golf News

HOYLAKE, LIVERPOOL: The morning after the finest performance by an Indian at the Open Championships, there was an air of supreme belief. At 27, Shubhankar Sharma has already been a pro for more than 10 years and visited the rarefied zone of elite professional golf, too.

Like the time he led a WGC event after 54 holes and played the final round with Phil Mickelson; or when he contended for the Rolex Series’ star-studded events in Abu Dhabi the last two years, or when he shot very low scores to twice win on the DP World Tour.

All those events had world class players. Yet, this time around time it was a Major in the most testing conditions.
“The energy in the body is very different. (Now) I am relaxed, and it is time to embrace my friends, meet my family. Yes, I have said I have been patient and I am satisfied, but now I can add, I am very, very happy,” said Sharma, after his tied eighth place finish at the 151st Open, where no Indian had breached Top20.
“Until the last hole, I didn’t obviously have this in my head that I have not made a bogey (on the final day). I was still trying to make birdies. I am very proud that I had just one bogey on the last two days (that came in the third round).”
The rain kept alternating between an insistent drizzle and downright pelting, an d the flags kept telling all that the wind was not letting up. Neither was Sharma. He hung in; collecting par after par, waiting for a birdie which was taking its own sweet time in coming. Sharma, his head down, stuck to his task. “I just kept talking to myself, just talking about the process, what I need to follow. On a day like this you’re going through so many emotions. I was ho ping that the rain would stop. It didn’t stop at all. It was just 2-irons and 2-irons and 4-irons and 4-irons. It always feels like your back is against the wall.
“When you still see people making birdies you feel like you also need to step up. So many things happening in the end, you just need to fall back towards basics. There was so much happening, changing caps, changing rain gear, three towels, ten gloves, just keeping the umbrella up.
“There was no time to look at anything. Right from the wedge shot to the driver, you were just trying to stay dry. It rained all day. Till I submitted my scorecard I didn’t know exactly where I was. I thought, hopefully I will be in the Top-10. And I didn’t know the Top10 would get invited back again for the next Open.”
A professional athlete needs more than just a good scorecard to reaffirm his belief.
The Top-10 finish got Sharma a place in this week’s US$ 7.8 million 3M Open on the PGA Tour. But he wanted to wind down and rest. He has risen from 276th to 165th in world rankings; from 95th to 56th on DPWT rankings. But the most important ranking is in his own mind – he knows he belongs to the league of the very best.