Golf: India's Shubhankar Sharma wins Maybank Championship

SUBANG: India's Shubhankar Sharma (pic) overcame a four-shot deficit on Sunday (Feb 4) to win the US$3mil (RM11.7mil) Maybank Championship for his second victory on both the Asian Tour and European Tour.

The 21-year-old, trailing leaders Jorge Campillo of Spain and South Africa's Dylan Frittelli at the start of the final round, racked up 10 birdies on his way to shoot a flawless nine-under 62 at the Saujana Golf and Country Club.

He finished with a total of 21-under 267, winning by two shots from Campillo (68) and Jose Larrazabal (66), also of Spain, and New Zealander Ryan Fox (66) sharing third on 270.

Shubhankar, who's the first Asian winner after three editions, earned US$500,000 (RM1.94mil) for his effort.

The victory came only two months after he secured his maiden triumph at the Joburg Open in South Africa, which is tri-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour (African), European Tour and Asian Tour.

Asian Tour No.1 Gavin Kyle Green could only manage a closing one-over 73 to tie for 39th spot on nine-under 279.

Debutant Amir Nazrin Jailani impressed with a 68 and a 280 total to emerge the second best local performer in joint 50th.

Leading final round scores

267: Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 70-69-66-62;

269: Jorge Campillo (Spa) 69-66-66-68;

270: Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70-70-64-66, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 68-68-68-66;

272: Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 74-66-63-69, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 68-65-70-69, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 71-64-68-69, Khalin Joshi (Ind) 67-70-65-70, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69-66-66-71;

273: Berry Henson (US) 69-68-65-71;

274: Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 70-67-70-67, Joost Luiten (Ned) 72-68-66-68, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 69-66-71-68, Romain Wattel (Fra) 67-73-65-69, Lee Westwood (Eng) 72-62-70-70, Paul Peterson (US) 69-70-65-70;

275: Andy Sullivan (Eng) 71-66-71-67, David Lipsky (US) 67-68-71-69, Scott Jamieson (Sco) 68-69-69-69, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 69-70-65-71, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 66-71-67-71, Phachara Khongwatmai (Tha) 68-65-70-72.

-thestar online.