Shubhankar Sharma currently leads the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award heading into the final event on the 2018 European Tour calendar – the DP World Tour Championship.
Sharma currently sits in 25th position in the Race to Dubai Rankings with 1,381,291 points, many of which he accumulated thanks to a blistering start to his European Tour career.
His debut came at the UBS Hong Kong Open where he would lay down his marker with a tied tenth finish, but just a couple of weeks later the 22 year old would show he means business, picking up his maiden Tour victory at the Joburg Open.
It would only take the rookie a further two months to double his victory tally, as he carded a sensational ten under par final round to take the Maybank Championship, after starting the day four strokes behind the leaders.
However, Sharma will face competition from two other rookies teeing it up in Dubai, as Australia’s Lucas Herbert and England’s Sam Horsfield both are both in contention.
Both players are still searching for their first European Tour wins and may need one of the European Tour’s biggest stages if they are to come away as the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year. Both would need at least a top three finish to overtake Sharma.
The Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award is awarded to the leading player in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex. Jon Rahm was crowned the 2017 Rookie of the Year ahead of the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, which he duly won to make it two Rolex Series titles in a stunning breakthrough season - his first came at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
Other past winners include Major Champions Brooks Koepka, Martin Kaymer, Sergio Garcia and José María Olazábal as well as European Tour legends and successful Ryder Cup Captains Thomas Bjørn and Colin Montgomerie.
