Whenever I’ve set the bar high, I’ve done well, says Shubhankar Sharma

As a wide-eyed learner, Shubhankar Sharma always wanted the play The Open Championship. This year, the season’s third Major will be at the Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland, a venue he claims “to know by heart”. Growing up watching it on TV, such is the familiarity with the course layout that Shubhankar is confident of being in contention on the Sunday of July 22.

But before that week, he will be among the hopefuls to arrive at the Shinnecock Hills in New York for next week’s US Open. On Monday, the 21-year-old became the fifth and youngest Indian to feature in the year’s second Major when he made the event through a sectional qualifier at Columbus, Ohio. Before him, Jeev Milkha Singh (2006, 2007, 2009, 2016), Arjun Atwal (2010), Shiv Kapur (2014, 2015) and Anirban Lahiri (2015, 2016) featured here.

Jeev, who was also the first Indian to play the US Open in 2002, considers it the “toughest of the four Majors”, but is confident of Shubhankar “managing himself well”. “The rough will be up and pin positions tough so a lot of bogeys are waiting to be made,” he said from London. “It is all about managing yourself well and that is his forte.”

As for Shubhankar, contending at the Majors is a continuation of the “process” that started with the Joburg Open, an event he almost did not play in December, but went on to win to start a run that saw him pull off another triumph at the Malaysian Open two months later.

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“Whenever I’ve set the bar high, I’ve done well,” he said, wiser after a rollercoaster ride that has seen him finish top-10 at the World Golf Championships in Mexico, get an invite to the Augusta Masters to making cut just once in his last five starts on the PGA Tour, where he’s eying full playing rights next season.

A win or finish near the top next week could seal his playing rights on the PGA Tour, billed golf’s Mecca, and make him the youngest Indian to win pull off the feat. Making the weekend rounds would also leave him as the third Indian after Jeev and Shiv to make cut in a maiden appearance.

But, that’s how golf is for Shubhankar, unpredictable. “The beauty of the sport is you can never perfect it,” he said. Yet, he is up for the test. “I am ready to contend, knowing that my best is good enough for a top-five finish or even a win (at a Major), he said.” Coupled with his prodigious talent, a steady head will aid him too. “What have I done (achieved); nothing! Look at Tiger (Woods) and Rory (McIlroy); they have so much banking on them, yet they play well regularly.”