Reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit champion Shubhankar Sharma will get another opportunity to play alongside World No.1 Brooks Koepka of the United States after being paired together in the opening round of the 148th Open starting on Thursday.
Together with 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, the trio will tee off at the Royal Portrush as they commence their quest of lifting the iconic Claret Jug at the year’s final Major.
After six years
Shubhankar was only 16 and playing in his first professional event when he was paired with Koepka in the final round of the Gujarat Kensville Challenge on the European Challenge Tour in 2013.
Although they did not win that event, both have since gone on to enjoy tremendous success and are expected to draw a huge crowd when they play together again this week.
“Brooks is the World No.1 and I’ve played with him before in India. He came for the Challenge Tour event in 2013 and I’m looking forward to playing with him again,” said Shubhankar.
“Obviously there’s going to be a lot of people following us and hopefully more people back home in India will watch it too. It’s always going to be fun playing with the Major champions,” said Shubhankar.
“It was a long time ago. I haven’t spoken to him since then. It will be fun to play with him again,” said Koepka.
Shubhankar finished tied-51st in his Carnoustie debut last year and with his birthday falling on Sunday this week, he is hoping for an even more special celebration.
“Last year was obviously very special as I made the cut and celebrated my birthday on the third day. This time, it’ll be on the fourth day so hopefully I can make it even more special.”
