Shubhankar fights hard to shoot 69, lies 11th; three shots behind leader at Abu Dhabi

Sharma was tied 11th alongside Alex Noren 68, Thorbjorn Olesen 68, Richard Bland 66 and Connor Syme 64.He is three shots adrift of co-leaders Australian Min Woo Lee 66 and two former Open winners, Irelands Shane Lowry 66 and Italian Francesco Molinari 69 who were all 13-under.Sharma said, It was not one of those days where I was finding a lot of greens.


PTI | Abudhabi | Updated: 21-01-2023 20:10 IST | Created: 21-01-2023 20:10 IST
Shubhankar fights hard to shoot 69, lies 11th; three shots behind leader at Abu Dhabi

India's Shubhankar Sharma grinded through the front nine with a bunch of par saves to card 3-under 69 and be tied 11th after the third round of the Abu Dhabi HSBCC Championship.

With rounds of 67-70-69, Sharma, runner-up at the Yas Links last year, is "double digits under par" at 10-under in the Rolex Series event, which carries a purse of USD 9 million. Sharma was tied 11th alongside Alex Noren (68), Thorbjorn Olesen (68), Richard Bland (66) and Connor Syme (64).

He is three shots adrift of co-leaders Australian Min Woo Lee (66) and two former Open winners, Ireland's Shane Lowry (66) and Italian Francesco Molinari (69) who were all 13-under.

Sharma said, "It was not one of those days where I was finding a lot of greens. But I still had some birdie putts or at least a good chance of going forward but I missed." "It was an up -and-down front nine, but the back nine was much better," he added as he started the back nine with back-to-back birdies on 10th and 11th. He three-putted the 12th for his only bogey and closed the round with a birdie on 18th. "It was a bit of a grind. Still I think I did pretty good. Like I said, greens got a lot crustier." He made some solid par saves. On the first hole, the second shot rolled back from the slope but he made a tough two-putt. On the second hole, he went into the bunker with the second shot and then went over the green with his third shot. Again he two-putted from almost off the green. On the third, he again two-putted from a long distance and on the fourth, he missed an eight footer for birdie. On the fifth, he went left but again saved par with a two-putt from 50 feet with the par putt from 15 feet. He missed a 6-7 footer for birdie on sixth.

After six pars, he finally birdied Par-5 seventh with a superb second shot that came just short off the green and he took a birdie from there. A par on eighth was followed by a par save on ninth after going into the bunker. He was most relieved to start with a birdie-birdie on back nine.

''Three back is still a good position to be in. I was 10-under after 11, but then came a bogey and the next few holes were not the easiest. I was just telling myself to get to double digits. Then, at least I would have a shot tomorrow. Hopefully, conditions are good tomorrow." Lee, playing with Sharma, had an up-and-down front nine with three birdies against one bogey. But he was on fire on the back nine with some laser-like approaches, which he had worked on during the off-season. He had five birdies on the home stretch. Lee's rounds have been 68-69-66.

Lowry holed an eagle 2 in his 66. The round included five birdies and one bogey on the 17th.

Molinari ground it out on a tough day and the birdie on the 18th helped him join Lee and Lowry at 13-under.

Three players Grant Forrest (65), Victor Perez (68) and Sebastian Soderberg (66) are tied fourth at 11-under. The 51-year-old three time Major winner, Padraig Harrington (64), who had six birdies in a row on the back nine, Antoine Rozner (68), Adrian Meronk (68) and Guido Migliozzi (71) were tied seventh at 11-under.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Give Feedback