Paphos, Cyprus, 30-10-2020

Big gains for Indians as Shubhankar climbs to tied sixth in Cyprus and Anirban moves to tied 12th in Bermuda

There were big gains for Indians in international golfing events on Friday, October 31. 

While Shubhankar Sharma (67-66) struck a five-under-66 to move up 12 spots to tied sixth in the clubhouse at nine-under-133, to be two shots behind the lead at the Cyprus Open on the European Tour, Anirban Lahiri (68-70) returned a one-under-70 to jump 14 spots to tied 12th at four-under-138, to trail the lead by four shots at the Bermuda Championship on the PGA Tour.

Shubhankar Sharma, who made his sixth consecutive cut on the European Tour, made an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys during his second round. He had earlier shot a bogey-free 67 in round one.

Sharma said, “As professional golfers this is what you strive for, you want to be in the mix going into the weekend. It’s been a while since that has happened. I felt that at the Scottish I was quite close, I was 13th after two days. My game was coming around. The Scottish wasn’t too many weeks back. I’m really happy to be in this position and I'm looking forward to the weekend.

“Experience plays a big role. This is my third year on Tour and I've been in this situation many times before – that will definitely help. But, on this course, anyone can shoot a low number. If there’s no wind and it’s calm, I think there’s a ten under out there. These players are really good. You just have to stay on your toes, keep firing away and see what happens on Sunday.”

Elsewhere on the PGA Tour, Anirban Lahiri made two birdies and a bogey in his second round effort.

Lahiri said, “I’m quite happy with the way I played. It was tough, really tough. It’s been a while since we played in conditions like this, and it takes me back to The Open at St Andrews in 2015. Today the gusts were up but they kept the greens slow enough and it was borderline playable. It was a grind.

“One of those days when you have to accept whatever you get. I generally played better today. I’ll be looking to hit a few more fairways over the weekend and probably make a few putts. I felt like I haven’t made many putts outside of five, six feet and missed a few inside that range as well. It’s one of those things which has not fallen into place but things are looking good and in the right direction. It’ll be a matter of having a few go in and getting on a roll to gain some momentum. Tomorrow is going to be a windy day again, so it’ll be interesting. I’m excited and looking forward to it and hopefully I can keep my head down and make a bunch of birdies.”