Portrush, Northern Ireland, 19-07-2019
Shubhankar Sharma makes his second consecutive cut at The Open after a second round of 72
India’s Shubhankar Sharma is hoping to find his form in putting again as he heads into the weekend rounds after signing for a one-over-par 72 in the second round of The 148th Open on Friday.
With his two-day total of even-par 142, the reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit champion secured his place in the weekend rounds in tied 48th position as the cut was set at one-over.
The halfway lead was jointly held by Irishman Shane Lowry and American J B Holmes at eight-under-134.
“I'll need to do some putting as I wasn't really rolling it the way I was yesterday on the back-nine. I was kind of tentative and didn't really have the right speed on the greens. I’ve to work on that,” said Sharma.
Sharma started his round in tied-20th place after opening with a bogey-free 70. However, he dropped his first shot of the week at the par-four first hole.
He recovered quickly with a birdie on the second hole but gave that shot back again with another bogey on the fourth hole.
The Indian then made successive birdies on holes six and seven but they were offset by bogeys on 12 and 14 before he closed his round with four straight pars starting from the 15th hole.
“It was just bad. On the first hole, I just pulled it and on the fourth, the wind just took it a little bit and went in the bunker. And on 12, I misjudged my shot and so I lost three shots there,” said Sharma.
The 22-year-old, who will be celebrating his birthday on Sunday, is looking forward to a restart where he can hopefully haul himself back into the mix again.
“I was a little bit disappointed but I guess I can still be proud of how I played the last 36 holes. I was very calm on the course and I played decent golf. I hit a few shots which I didn’t want to and dropped a few shots on the back-nine which is all part of the game.
“I’m happy that I’ve secured my place in the weekend. I feel like I could have gone lower but there’s another 36 holes to go and I start on a clean slate again,” said Sharma.
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