Shubhankar Sharma is currently the best ranked Indian in the world at 209
Another week, another missed cut for Shubhankar Sharma. He shot 80 in the first round of the European Tour’s SDC Championship in South Africa, which effectively ended his chances of playing on the weekend. It was his fourth missed cut in seven events in 2023. That seems to be the pattern for him these days.
Since the start of 2020, Sharma has missed almost has many cuts as he has made. He has played in 84 events and missed the cut in 40 of them, which works out to 47.62%. In 2022, his record was even worse. Sharma missed the cut in 14 out of 26 events, or 53.85%. He also hasn’t won a tournament in over five years and counting. That’s a discouraging trend and it’s difficult to understand why it has persisted for so long.
Sharma’s underlying stats have stayed pretty much the same over that span of time, though relative to the rest of the European Tour small margins could make a meaningful difference.
For example, in 2021, Sharma averaged 1.75 putts per green in regulation, which put him 52 nd on tour. In 2022, he averaged 1.78 putts per green in regulation, but that year he was ranked 160 th on tour because the tour average had dropped from 1.77 to 1,73.
So far this year Sharma is averaging 1.77 puts per green in regulation, but the tour average has now dropped to 1.67, leaving him 179 th in that category.
Yet that isn’t enough to explain the wild swings in his results.
Sharma himself thinks his game is in better shape than it has ever been. “I am playing my best now. There is nothing missing in my game,” he told the New Indian Express prior to last month’s Hero Indian Open. My short game is much better now. It is one part of the game I have gotten better at. My ball striking has only got better … Overall, I have matured as a player with four more years of experience in the tour.”
Yet that hasn’t translated into better results. In fact, it’s been the opposite. Sharma burst on the international scene in 2017 and 2018, when he won twice on the European Tour and held the 54-hole lead in the World Golf Championship event in Mexico in 2018. Only 21 at the time, Sharma played in the final group with Phil Mickelson, the eventual winner, and it seemed like the best was yet to come. In hindsight, that looks like the apex of his career to this point.
To be fair, Sharma has posted eight top-10s over the last three years, or roughly one every 10 events. That’s what has enabled him to keep his card even while he has struggled to make cuts.
What that also suggests is that his problems may not be technical or physical. It’s impossible to know for sure from the outside looking in but, but the culprit for Sharma’s inconsistent play is more likely to be his course management strategy or a lack of concentration or difficulty in recovering from a poor shot or two or maybe an issue with his equipment. Whatever it is, it’s clear something needs to change. It could also be loneliness – whereas earlier other Indians like SSP Chowrasia, Shiv Kapur & Gaganjeet Bhullar were regulars on the European Tour, Shubhankar has been pretty much on his own for the last two years. It’s not easy eating dinner alone after a tough day at the course.
Raymond Floyd, the four-time major champion, once said that at the professional level, golf was 90 per cent between the ears and only 10 percent physical. We hope Shubhankar focuses his efforts correctly and we see him play more consistent golf in 2023.
Credits:-
Photo – DPWTR