India’s Shubhankar Sharma was named the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year on the European Tour on Sunday.

Some of the other golfers to have won this prestigious award include Sir Nick Faldo (1977), José María Olazábal (1986), Colin Montgomerie (1988), Thomas Björn (1996), Sergio Garcia (1999), Ian Poulter (2000) and Brooks Koepka (2014).

Sharma became the youngest Indian to win on the European Tour – by more than six years – when he won the Jo’burg Open title in December 2017, aged 21.

The Indian also sealed his place in The 2018 Open Championship courtesy of his victory at Randpark Golf Club and added a second European Tour title two months later after carding a final round of 62 to win the 2018 Maybank Championship.

He carded an impressive result at the WGC - Mexico Championship when he finished tied ninth, slipping with a 74 on the final day. His other top 10 finishes include the Indian Open (tied-7th) and the Volvo China Open (tied-14th). He is currently 26th on the European Tour money list with season’s earnings of €1,152,832.