Shubhankar Sharma wins Maybank Championship with stunning 62

India’s Shubhankar Sharma fires a Sunday 62 for second European Tour win in as many months

Low scores were there to be had Sunday at the Maybank Championship. Shubhankar Sharma took it to another level.

Twenty-two of 23 of the top finishers were in red figures at Saujana Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but the 21-year-old Sharma posted a 10-under 62 to blow by them all. No other player bested a 66 on a windy, sunny Sunday.

Sharma teed off an hour before 54-hole leaders Dylan Frittelli and Jorge Campillo. Sharma made par on the first three holes, including the par-5 first, the easiest hole on the course for an inauspicious start.

From there, Sharma reeled off four birdies in a row, including two on par-3s. He went out in 31 and did it again on the back with two closing birdies to post a number that proved too far out of reach.

"“I played pretty solid and it wasn’t easy because it was windy,” Sharma told the European Tour. “I kept pushing the whole day. I knew I had to make a lot birdies to catch the leaders. I made a lot of birdies on the front nine and just continued on the back.”"

It wasn’t until the 13th hole where Sharma knew he was near the leaders and then saw he led by two on the 16th. A lot of 21-year-olds would tense up or play it safe, but Sharma went the other way entirely. “If I make two birdies,” he said, “that would give me a good chance to win.”

He was right.

It was his second win, along with the 2017 Joburg Open, in 13 European Tour starts for Sharma. He still primarily plays on the Asian Tour, and appears content to stay in his home continent for some time longer.

Sharma hit 84.7 percent of greens to finish seventh in the field and was 100 percent out of the sand this week.

The contenders

Unlike Sharma, Campillo capitalized on No. 1 with an eagle, but that was about all he could muster. The Spaniard played the rest of the front nine in even par and made seven straight pars on the back. A couple birdies to close his round pushed him into solo second at 19-under and a closing 69. Campillo never truly contended late in the day.

It was Campillo’s fourth runner-up finish at the Maybank Championship.

"“I started really good,” Campillo told the European Tour. “I started good in the first eight holes then I missed my drive on the ninth hole. After that I made some good up-and-downs and gave myself some birdie chances. I finished good so I’m happy with that.”"

South Africa’s Frittelli and USA’s Berry Henson were alongside Campillo and had the worst round of any in the top 16. Among the contenders, Frittelli was the highest ranked player at No. 47 in the world, though he couldn’t help his cause for his second European Tour win this season.

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Twice when Frittelli appeared to be primed for a run on the back nine he followed a birdie with a bogey. The former Texas Longhorn settled for a closing 71 to finish tied for fifth after a 69 and two 66s to begin the tournament.

The moment may have been a bit too big for Henson, a 39-year-old Asian Tour member who entered at No. 622 in the world and was 969th a week prior. Henson birdied two of his first three holes, but a run of six straight pars preceding three bogeys on the back nine spelled doom. Nonetheless, the solo 10th place result will go a long way for Henson to find more starts on the European Tour this season.

Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox fed off each other to fire dueling 66s to climb into a tie for third place at 18-under. Larrazábal led the field in greens in regulation (87.5 percent) and Fox in driving distance (326.8 yards).

Next: Justin Thomas flames out at Waste Management Phoenix Open

Chip shots

• Defending champion Fabrizio Zanotti was Za-not able to defend his title, finishing tied 60th with Henrik Stenson at six-under for the tournament.
• Lee Westwood tied Sharma for low round of the tournament with a 62 on Friday. Coming off of two missed cuts, Westwood was in contention going into Sunday and finished T11.
• Former Japanese prodigy Ryo Ishikawa’s T5 finish was his best result in a European Tour or PGA Tour event since the 2013 ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf.
• Last week’s champion at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Haotong Li, missed the cut by four shots at one-over.
• Other notable finishes: T27 Chris Paisley, Andrew Johnston, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (-11); T39 low Malaysian Gavin Green (-9); T55 Alexander Lévy (-7); MC Bernd Wiesberger (-2); MC Danny Willett (E).
• The European Tour heads to Perth, Australia, next week for the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth. The format features a standard 36-hole stroke play cut for top 65 and ties. Another 54-hole cut reduces the field to 24 players with the top eight earning byes in Sunday’s single-elimination bracket where players go head-to-head in six-hole matches until a champion’s determined.