Kartik Sharma idolises Seve Ballesteros but also wants to play like Phil Mickelson, because like the latter he himself is a left-hander. At 19, he has a long way to go, but over the past year he has made the right moves.

Part of the six-member team at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships (AAC) in Shanghai this week, Sharma is coming off a fine run in past 12 months, during which he has won three times at home, once in Australia and also had a Top-5 in South Africa besides gaining experience at some of the well-known golf courses like the Royal Melbourne, where he will play the Junior President’s Cup in December, and the Leopard Creek in South Africa.

The other five Indians at the Championships are Rayhan Thomas, who is now based in US at the Oklahoma State University and who was runner-up last year; Karnataka’s GN Basvaraju, Delhi’s Harshjeet Singh Sethie and Vinay Kumar Yadav and Rajasthan’s Girraj Singh Khadka.

The Kolkata-born, Gurgaon-based Sharma was T-13th at the last AAC after looking good for a Top-10. Since then he has won three domestic events in Jharkhand, Western India Amateurs and Gujarat Amateurs and had the experience of playing in Australia, where he also played at the Royal Melbourne and Leopard Creek in South and Links Trophy and British Amateur in the UK.

Sharma played 18 holes each on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Sheshan Golf Club and said the course is challenging, maybe even more than his home course, the DLF Golf Course, where he trains with former India player, Anitya Chand.

Training with Anitya in the DLF’s Excellence Programme has made Sharma a better player. “The programme gives me playing right and Anitya Sir has been good for my game. We also get stints with an Austrian coach, Jonathan Manie, who has coached Matt Schwaab and Xander Schauffele. He comes for a week or so 3-4 times,” said Sharma, who added that fitness, skills and other areas are also looked at in the DLF programme.

Sharma hit the made news earlier this year with a win at the New South Wales Open amateurs and recently became only the second Indian (after Rayhan Thomas) to make the International Team for the Junior President’s Cup.

“Starting from AAC last year, when I came close to getting into the Top-10 (T-13th) I have been playing well. Now all I want to do is to play well at this event and who knows what can happen,” rounded off Sharma.

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