Maybank Championship Leaderboard, Preview, TV Times

Shubhankar Sharma defends at Saujana G&CC in Kuala Lumpur

Shubhankar Sharma defends Maybank Championship
Shubhankar Sharma defends Maybank Championship
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The European Tour is in Malaysia this week for the Maybank Championship at Saujana G&CC. India’s Shubhankar Sharma is the defending champion.

Maybank Championship Leaderboard, Preview, TV Times

The European Tour heads for Asia this week and the Maybank Championship at the Saujana G&CC in Kuala Lumpur. Shubhankar Sharma defends his title against a field including past and present Ryder Cup captains Thomas Bjorn and Padraig Harrington.

A good field is set to start in the Maybank Championship. Four-time Major champion Ernie Els is on the start sheet together with the likes of Miguel Angel Jimenez, Thomas Pieters, Andy Sullivan and recent European Tour winners Kurt Kitayama and Guido Migliozzi.

This will be only the fourth time this competition has been hosted although Saujana has been a regular stop on the circuit in the past. The club has hosted the Malaysian Open on a number of occasions.

Marcus Fraser was the winner of this event in 2016 with Fabrizio Zanotti claiming the victory the following season.

In last year’s Maybank Championship Shubhankar Sharma of India produced a scintillating final round of 62 to take his second European Tour title of the 2018 season.

Saujana G&CC

Saujana G&CC

The course at Saujana G&CC is an undulating one lined by palm trees that opened for play back in 1986. Scoring tends to be pretty good as evidenced by Sharma’s winning score of 21-under-par last year.

The weather forecast is mixed. It will be hot and pretty humid and there could be a few thunderstorms to add to the excitement.

Venue: Saujana G&CC, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Date: Mar 21-24 Course stats: par 72, 7,135 yards Purse: €2,650,000 Defending champion: Shubhankar Sharma (-21)

How to watch the Maybank Championship

TV Coverage: Thursday 21 – Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event from 3.30am Friday 22 – Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event from 2.30am Saturday 23 – Sky Sports Golf from 2.30am and Sky Sports Main Event from 4.15am Sunday 24 – Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event from 2.30am

Not a Sky Sports customer and want to watch the Maybank Championship?

BUY NOW: Now TV Sky Sports Pass – £8.99 for a day, £14.99 for a week or £33.99 for a month

Players to watch:

Ryan Fox

Ryan Fox

Ryan Fox – Recently a winner in the Perth Super 6, Fox was third in this event last year.

Jorge Campillo – Another man with good form at Saujana. He was runner-up to Sharma last season. He’s been tied second in his last two outings on the European Tour.

David Lipsky – A winner of the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December, the American was runner-up in this event two seasons back.

Key hole: 17th. A relatively short par-4 at just 377 yards, the hole tends to yield a high number of birdies.

Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly. 

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?