Valiant Shubhankar Sharma misses cut at Hero Open golf in UK
The Indian golfer had bounced back with three birdies at Birmingham after carding five bogeys in Round 2.
Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma fought back after a rocky start to the second round of the Hero Open on Friday but was unable to make the cut for the weekend in Birmingham.
Sharma ended the day and his outing at the Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club golf course tied-79th and on par for the tournament.
It was a mixed start for the 24-year-old Indian, who had ended the opening day tied-89, starting at one-over 73 on Thursday.
The Indian carded a birdie at par-4 first but then spiralled down with five bogeys -- including successive ones on the 9th and on the return at the 10th and 11th -- in the next six holes
However, Shubhankar Sharma upped his game from the par-5 12th with three successive birdies and kept it steady until the 18th. Another birdie on the penultimate hole took his birdies tally to six for the day
But it didn’t prove to be enough.
“I gave it all and played the last seven holes very well. But it was probably a case too much to cover up,” Shubhankar Sharma told PTI. “My real game showed up on that back stretch, but I had too much of a gap to make up.
“After three birdies, I did think of an eagle on par-5 17th, but the second shot, a 6-Iron came to the edge and I only managed a birdie,” he pointed out. “It was also windy and not calm like earlier in the day
”The two holes, tenth and 11th cost me heavily. I dropped five shots over two days on those two holes,” he rued
The pro from Chandigarh was competing in a golf tournament for the first time in over four months since the Qatar Masters in March.
Meanwhile, at the top Spaniard Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez shared the lead with Englishman Sam Horsfield with the pair finishing the day 13-under.
The Hero Open carries a prize purse of one million euros and is the second of six tournaments of the ‘UK Swing’, which kicked off with the Betfred British Masters. It concludes on Sunday.
Shubhankar Sharma is the youngest Indian golfer to win on the European Tour when as a 21-year-old, he claimed the Joburg Open title in December 2017. He added another tour title a couple of months later.
He is aiming to be amongst the field of 60 selected for the Olympics when the cut off for Tokyo is made next year.