PETALING JAYA, March 19 — Defending champion Shubhankar Sharma of India returned with a hope to repeat his winning act at the Maybank Championship which begins on Thursday at the Saujana Golf and Country Club, Subang.

"I have some very special memories from last year. It just feels like yesterday that I won here. I made that putt on 18 and was waiting in scorers for the rest of the field to finish.

"It’s great to come back, it was my biggest win,” said the 22-year-old, who turned pro in 2013, in a press conference today.

At last year’s edition, Shubhankar closed in with a stunning 10-under-par 62 to claim a two-shot victory over Jorge Campillo of Spain and becoming the first Asian and the second Asian Tour member after Marcus Fraser of Australia in 2016 to lift the trophy.

Apart from a tied-second finish on his domestic circuit this year, Shubhankar’s results abroad have not been impressive by his lofty standards.

"The start of the year hasn’t been that great, to be honest. I would obviously like a better start but I’ve been working on a few things in my game.

"Golf is a precision sport and you got to get even the small things right. There have been a few things which have not clicked for me this year. But having said that, I’ve very good memories from this place and hopefully it can kick-start things, just like what it did for me last year,” he said.

At the fourth edition of Maybank Championship, Shubhankar will join a few notable names in the US$3 million (about RM12.3 million) tournament which includes his compatriot Arjun Atwal, Scott Hend (Australia), David Lipsky (United States), Thai veteran Thongchai Jaidee and also Malaysia’s top-ranked player, Gavin Kyle Green. — Bernama