Rising star Shubhankar get coveted Masters invitation

Two days after a top-10 finish at the World Golf Championships, 21-year-old Shubhankar Sharma has been handed a special invitation to participate in the highly coveted Masters tournament from April 5 to 8.

Sharma, who arrived from Mexico only on Tuesday, confirmed that he had accepted the invitation and said "This is a dream come true. This is something I have also wanted from the time I started playing."

He added: "I never thought I would get to play both the Masters and The Open so quickly in my career. I got back to India just today and soon after that I got a call from the Masters Committee. It was just fantastic."

Sharma had already confirmed his spot in The Open at Carnoustie (Scotland) by virtue of his winning the Joburg Open in December.

Seven weeks after winning in Joburg with a 61 in the second round, he shot a stunning 62 in the final round in Kuala Lumpur to win the Malaysian Championships.

Rounds of 65 and 66 followed by 69 in the first three rounds of WGC-Mexico saw him lead one of the strongest events in the world, before finishing T-9th.

Sharma, who leads both the European Tour's Race to Dubai rankings and Habitat for Humanity Asian Tour standings, will become the fourth Indian to play the Masters after Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal and Anirban Lahiri.

Interestingly, all three Jeev, Atwal and Lahiri, are all in India to play at the Hero Indian Open, where Shubhankar will be one of the pre-tournament favourites.

Fred Ridley, chairman of the Masters and Augusta National Golf Club, was quoted as saying, "Golf is a global game, and throughout our history we have extended invitations to deserving international players not otherwise qualified."

He added: "As his results have proven, Shubhankar Sharma is a remarkable young player, and we look forward to welcoming him to Augusta National in April."

Jeev, who was the first Indian to play at the Masters, said: "This invitation is very well deserved. The way Shubhankar played at the WGC and led the world class field for three days showed he potential he has."

The Indian legend, who played the Masters three times in a row from 2007 to 2009, added: "This invitation from the Masters Committee is a recognition of golf's growing potential in India and Asia and the fact that golf is now a global sport. I myself got that invitation in 2008, a year after I played the Masters for the first time. I am very grateful to them for recognizing India's potential and I am sure Shubhankar will do well."

Lahiri, who has also played at the Masters twice, said: "This is a huge thing and it is a global recognition of Shubhankar's talent and the way he has been playing I am sure he will do well." Lahiri played the Masters in 2015 and 2016.

Atwal, the only other Indian to have played at the Masters, in 2011, said: "This boy will go far and this is the beginning. He will do well on various courses in the US and to be invited to play at the Masters is great recognition of his potential."

Shubhankar, who was ranked as low as 576th at the start of 2016, is now the highest ranked Indian at 66th in the world.