By Rahul Banerji
Shubhankar Sharma leads a group of four Indians for the CIMB Classic at Kuala Lumpur, the largest number ever at the PGA Tour event that starts in two days time.
The others are the in-form Gaganjeet Bhullar, Anirban Lahiri, who finished T3 in 2015, and Rahil Gangjee who will be making his PGA Tour debut.
Three players have won the event since it came on the PGA Tour calendar. Ryan Moore in 2013 and 2014 and Justin Thomas in 2015 and 2016.
Pat Perez is defending champion. All three are in the field this week.
Said Sharma on Tuesday, “Today was my first look at the course. I’m really happy that I’m part of this event and looking forward to it.
“I haven’t really thought about anything or set any goals. Winning the Order of Merit is something I want to achieve by December and playing well here goes a long way to achieve that.
“That will be my number one goal for now. Obviously we all know golf is a game that you can’t really have your best every week.
“What I have learned in a short career is that it’s only when you are not playing well that you learn more about yourself.
“You have things that you would not really look at when you’re playing well, but when you’re playing bad, you tend to look at the finer things.
“I think I’ve done that in the past month. I have my coach here this week and even he’s really happy with the way I’m hitting it.
“It’s just about getting in one good round and when that happens I think I’ll get my confidence back and I’ll be back at it again.”
Pre-tournament notes
Dates: October 11 to October 14
Where: TPC Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Par/Yards: 36-36—72/7,005
2017 Champion: Pat Perez
Purse: $7 million total purse, $1.26 million to the winner
FedExCup: 500 points to the winner
Format: 72-hole stroke play
Eligible players
a) The top-60 available players from the 2017-18 final FedExCup Points list, to a floor of 125th place.
b) The top-10 available money leaders from the Asian Tour Order of Merit as of October 8, 2018
c) Eight sponsor exemptions: One designated for the defending champion, if needed, and five restricted to players who are PGA Tout members.
Two slots – one via the CIMB National Championship and one via the Official World Golf Rankings — are for the highest-ranked Malaysian as of October 1, 2018.
Things to know
The CIMB Classic combines players from three official sanctioning bodies – the PGA Tour, the Asian Tour and the Professional Golf Association of Malaysia (PGAM).
The tournament brings together top players from the FedExCup standings, the Asian Tour Order of Merit and Malaysia.
The tournament is the only official FedExCup event on the PGA Tour to be held in Southeast Asia.
Top contenders
Justin Thomas, (set tournament record for 72-hole score 26-under 262, also owns the course record at TPC Kuala Lumpur of 61).
Pat Perez (his 54-hole total of 195 in 2017 set the tournament record through three rounds and his four-shot lead tied Lahiri in 2016 for the largest 54-hole lead in tournament history); Xander Schauffele; Paul Casey; Billy Horschel; Keegan Bradley and Kevin Tway; .
Leading 10 from Asian Tour
Shubhankar Sharma (India), Sanghyun Park (South Korea), Scott Vincent (Zimbabwe), Gaganjeet Bhullar (India), Justin Harding (South Africa), John Catlin (United States), Sihwan Kim (USA), Rahil Gangjee (India), Minchel Choi (South Korea) and Berry Henson (USA).
Also read: Ernie Els set for one final swing through Asia
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Justin Thomas – what a game he played in the Ryder Cup! Earnie Els always a favourite, best of luck to Shubhankar. Would be delighted to see all of them live, is there any opportunity?