Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Anirban Lahiri of India finished tied 11^th at the Bermuda Championship on Sunday, five shots behind winner Brian Gay.

A final round 3-under 68, which included four birdies and a lone bogey at Port Royal Golf Course, ensured Kiradech his best result in a year with his 10-under 274 total while Lahiri maintained his resurgence in form with a closing 67 which moved him up to 31^st position in the latest FedExCup rankings.

The 48-year-old Gay claimed his fifth PGA TOUR victory with a playoff win over Wyndham Clark as he ended a winless streak since 2013. Gay and Clark ended the week on 15-under 269.

SOUTHAMPTON, BERMUDA – NOVEMBER 01: Anirban Lahiri of India plays his shot from the tenth tee during the final round of the Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course on November 01, 2020 in Southampton, Bermuda. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Lahiri closed out his week with six birdies against two bogeys on a week where he ranked tied first for most birdies made during the tournament. It also maintained his solid start to the new 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season where he registered two top-40s and a tied sixth finish in three previous starts.

“Happy with the consistency this week. I made too many small errors on and around the greens that added up to hurt me enough. Disappointed not to finish in the top-10,” said the Indian star, who is featuring in his sixth straight PGA TOUR Season.

Starting the final round four off the pace, Lahiri started strongly with birdies on Hole Nos. 2, 4 and 7 but dropped a bogey on nine. He made par over the next five holes before closing with three birdies in his last four holes which included a second bogey of the round on Hole No. 16.

“I feel like the game is getting more rounded with every passing week. The biggest challenge and disappointment is not being able to play events and as of now, I’m not in to any of the remaining events on the Schedule (for this year). I may try to Monday qualify for Sea Island (the RSM Classic in three weeks’ time).”

Kiradech, who played alongside Lahiri in the final round,  started the final day three shots back but could not get his game firing on all cylinders to mount a challenge for a maiden PGA TOUR victory. He made birdies on the fourth and seventh holes but a bogey on nine pulled the brakes on his game. The Thai converted a two-feet birdie on 10 and ended his day with a 20-foot birdie conversion on the last.

“The putter was not hot enough to get the job done,” said Kiradech, whose best finish prior to this week was T8 at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in Korea last October.

Over at the Cyprus Open on the European Tour, India’s Shubhankar Sharma claimed his best result yet in 2020 with a tied-14th place finish at the Aphrodite Hills Resort. The 2018 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion closed with a second straight two-under-par 69 to finish 13-under-par 271, seven shots back from making the play-off.

Ends.

Southampton, Bermuda, October 28: India’s Anirban Lahiri walks with a slight spring in his steps these days. Gone are the times when he would stare at the ground with shoulders slumped after concluding another round on the PGA TOUR.

Confidence is a vital ingredient in any athlete’s daily grind and the 33-year-old Lahiri is certainly enjoying a new sense of self-belief after enjoying a decent run with a first top-10 in nearly two years and a couple of top-40s in his first three starts to the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season.

Following a three-week break, Lahiri, who at his heights represented the International Team in the Presidents Cup in 2015 and 2017, tees it up at the Bermuda Championship this week where he is eager to make further improvements after enduring a difficult past two years which has seen him miss more cuts that he’d like to.

“I’m really excited … it’s been three good weeks. I got a lot of work done, took some time off, kind of reflected on the start and also looked at areas that I need to work on and get better at. I’m playing much better. For me, it’s all about staying in the process and keep moving in that direction,” said Lahiri.

The tenacious Indian, who is a former Asian Tour No. 1, finished T36 in the season-opening Safeway Open last month, T6 at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship and T37 at the Sanderson Farms Championship to currently lie in 51^st position on the FedExCup points list. In those tournaments, he shot two average rounds, a 77 at Safeway and a 74 at Sanderson Farms, which he knows hurt his chances of higher finishes.

“It’s all about building that momentum going forward, build on that confidence and belief and snowball it into getting into contention more often, maybe this week, and try to work for a ‘W’. I have to think that way. That’s my attitude at the moment and that’s what I’m looking forward to. The game has been one bad round or mediocre round every event, and there’s been a lot of good golf and a lot of birdies and a lot of other positives as well,” said Lahiri.

While he continues to work regularly with long-time coach Vijay Divecha, Lahiri has spent time recently with short-game coach James Sieckmann to sharpen his tools as he seeks a career breakthrough on the PGA TOUR in what is his sixth season in the U.S.

Obviously spending extended time with my coach back in India (during the shutdown) made a huge difference and that’s beginning to show. I trust my game a lot more, hitting my game a lot better, I’m hitting my irons a lot better, which has basically always been my strength and not so much so in the last couple years. So getting back to basics,” said Lahiri, who holds 11 top-10s, including one runner-up finish, in 122 career starts on the the PGA TOUR.

Lahiri has an old score to settle at the Bermuda Championship which he shot rounds of 66 and 73 in the inaugural tournament last year but had to withdraw before the start of the third round due to injury. “I played well the few holes that I did play last year. Yeah, hoping to extend that to 72 and keep playing well. It’s unique. Obviously the biggest challenge here is the wind and I consider myself to be a pretty good wind player. I’ve had a lot of good results at windy venues and the grasses are tropical, so it’s a lot like what I’m used to playing, primarily Bermuda,” he said.

“It was unfortunate that I got hurt, but up until that point of time I felt really comfortable on the golf course. Hopefully I’ll feel the same way when I get started and I’m looking forward to it.”

He is also looking forward to seeing fans back on the golf course as the Bermuda Championship will become the first event on TOUR to allow fans back on site. “I think it’s a great sign. I think it’s a step forward. Bermuda as a country has done really well in managing and handling the virus. It will be great for us to have the galleries again and have that atmosphere that obviously they bring, the fans bring.”

As he isn’t in the field for next week’s Vivint Houston Open, Lahiir hopes to gain a backdoor entry by finishing in the top-10 in Bermuda, similar to what he did with his top-10 in Corales Puntacana which got him into the Sanderson Farms Championship. “There’s a lot to play for. I’m in a position where I’m not getting into a lot of events. This is going to be my fourth event of the year and may even be the last just looking at how many entries have come in for the remainder of the events. So I have to make the most of it,” said Lahiri.

“I have to try and get as many points up so when the season restarts, whenever I get my next opportunity, I’m not trying to run with a gun to my head. It’s very important for me to get off to that start, so it’s important for me to be focused at every event.

“I’m close, I’m definitely close. How close, I don’t know. Might be this week, might be two weeks from now. I think if I keep playing to my ability, to my potential, that I can push it further and further and higher and that’s how I want to look at it.”

Ends.

Thousand Oaks, California, October 20: Reigning Asian Development Tour (ADT) Order of Merit champion Naoki Sekito will head into this week’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD in an upbeat mood, having put his game in good order for his PGA TOUR debut at the Sherwood Country Club.

The 23-year-old Japanese gained momentum from winning the Hiroden Open Golf tournament in Hiroshima last week, peaking just in time for the ZOZO Championship that is making a one-year move to the United States due to logistical issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sekito, who enjoyed two top-10 finishes in three starts on the Asian Tour earlier this season, will feature in the elite 78-man field headlined by defending champion Tiger Woods, Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama, Major champions Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa.

Asian Tour standouts Jazz Janewattananond and Gunn Charoenkul of Thailand, South African Shaun Norris, Australian Brad Kennedy as well as Mikumu Horikawa and Rikuya Hoshino of Japan will also tee up in the highly rated event that became the first ever PGA TOUR-sanctioned event in Japan last year.

Reigning Asian Development Tour Order of Merit champion Naoki Sekito of Japan

“I have been lucky to continue playing in Japan during these unprecedented times. I have been playing a mixture of local events in Hiroshima, as well as events on the Japan Tour and the AbemaTV Tour.

“I was fortunate enough to win an event in July and then another event last week. I am very honoured and thankful to receive a sponsor’s invite to play the ZOZO Championship,” said Sekito, whose brother Yuji, also a professional golfer, will be on the bag for him this week.

After turning professional in December 2017, Sekito plied his trade on the ADT before claiming his first professional victory in Malaysia in 2019. He would secure one more victory and five other top-10s to clinch the 2019 ADT Order of Merit crown, becoming the first ever Japanese to accomplish the feat on the region’s secondary circuit.

“My sponsors held a gathering for me in my hometown before I flew here and about 70 to 80 people whom I have known from a young age attended. It was nice to see all of them and I took the opportunity to thank them for helping me throughout my career. I also met the Mayor of my hometown which was very cool.”

“I am really excited about this week. I look forward to playing in the same tournament as Tiger and hopefully I can bump into him at the range or in the clubhouse,” added Sekito, who hails from Fukuyama, a city in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.

Woods, who won his record-tying 82nd PGA TOUR title at last year’s ZOZO Championship, will be back to defend against a field full of stars at the 72-hole Jack Nicklaus-designed course, one of his favourite hunting grounds where he had won his Hero World Challenge five times.

Ends.

By V.Krishnaswamy, @Swinging_Swamy

Malaysia’s Gavin Green remained inside top-10 after slipping seven places to tied-10th position following a second-round one-under-par 71 at the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth on Friday.

India’s Shubhankar Sharma closed with a birdie to comfortably ensure weekend action in the third Rolex Series event of the European Tour’s 2020 Race to Dubai.

Sharma, who marked his season’s best finish yet with a tied-26th place finish at the Scottish Open last week, traded five birdies against three bogeys for a 70 to tie in 45th place.

Things however did not improve for Gaganjeet Bhullar, who missed his third cut in a row following a disappointing 77.

Green, former Asian Tour No. 1 like Sharma, was flawless on the first day with five birdies but stumbled on the second day with a triple bogey on the fourth and back-to-back bogeys on 13^th and 14^th.

Five-time European Tour winner Matthew Fitzpatrick (67-65) and reigning Open Champion Shane Lowry (67-65) both carded rounds of 7-under 65 each to share the halfway lead at 12-under.

Ryder Cup player Tyrrell Hatton, who already has two Rolex Series titles to his name, is one shot back after finishing his second round of 67 with three birdies in his final four holes. Denmark’s Joachim B Hansen and Frenchman Victor Perez are two shots further back on a nine under par while Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed moved into the top ten on six under par courtesy of a round of 68.

David Howell, meanwhile, aced the par three 14th hole which secured a donation of £71,675 for the Official Tournament Charity Alzheimer’s Society from title sponsors BMW, as part of the European Tour’s Golf for Good initiative. The amount donated equals the value of the BMW 530e Touring which overlooks the tee this week.

For Lowry, it continues a remarkable love affair with Wentworth Club’s West Course, upon which no other player has carded more rounds of 67 or lower since 2011 – a feat which the Irishman has achieved seven times following his seven under par second round.

Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura trails by seven shots in tied-13th following a 69 while Thai star Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Korea’s Jeunghun Wang returned with matching 70s to settle for tied-30th and tied-35th places respectively.

Ends.

By V.Krishnaswamy, @Swinging_Swamy

Shubhankar Sharma rounded off the week with a fine four-under 67 that saw him finish T-26 at the 2020 Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open. As Sharma admitted, it was especially good after a rough Saturday in North Berwick, Scotland.

The T-26 finish was also Sharma’s best in the nine starts since the European Tour re-started after the Tour was halted due to the pandemic Covid-19. His previous best finish was T-44 at Portugal Masters.

Aaron Rai of England, who has Indo-Kenyan origins, notched the biggest win of his career, as he beat World No. 14 Tommy Fleetwood in the first play-off hole. It was his first Rolex Series title which propelled him into top-100 on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Sharma, who had 70-67-76 on first three days, started on the tenth and birdied 12^th, 13^th, 17^th and 18^th and turned in with a fine 4-under first nine. A bogey on first was his sole blemish and he also birdied 7^th for a 67.

Former Tour member Kalle Samooja came in tied-ninth while two-time Asian Tour winner Jeunghun Wang finished tied-14. 2017 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion Gavin Green settled for T-42^nd.

Sharma, the 2018 Asian Tour No. 1, said, “I played very good today and was pleased with it especially after yesterday. I really want to come out and play well. I am quite happy about the week and I played well even on Saturday till the last five holes. Till then I was par for the first 12 holes before we hit the bad patch of weather.

“On Saturday it was very difficult, My gloves were wet and it was difficult to even hold the clubs but I would say it was a different kind of experience. So a good learning for the future.”

“As for playing a lot, I am feeling very fresh and happy that I am getting to play so many events. Sitting in India not being able to play was not easy. I still have some more events and I am looking forward to them after this week.”

As for the bubble and being part of it, for the first few weeks it seemed very different, but now it seems normal. I have my friend, Ainesh as my caddie and we spend the time together on and off the course. So, no stress on that account. I am looking forward to some of the other events now.”

Rai, whose first and only previous win was at the Hong Kong Open, carded 7-under 64 to set the target at 11-under par but Fleetwood holed a 20-foot putt on the last for a closing birdie to take it to extra holes at The Renaissance Club.

It was advantage Fleetwood off the tee as Rai found a bunker but the 25-year-old rescued his par and when Fleetwood three putted from just off the green, Rai had his second European Tour title.

Last week Rai finished second at last week at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. The win moves him into the top five on the Race to Dubai Rankings.

Robert Rock missed out on a place in the play-off by one shot after a bogey on the last in a round of 70, with Australian Lucas Herbert and home favourite Marc Warren at nine under after rounds of 65 and 66.

Rai said, “It’s incredible. I played a lot in Scotland growing up, dreamed of playing in a European Tour event in Scotland. To be able to play in it was incredible a couple of years ago and to be able to go still further is an incredible feeling.

“I didn’t really see many leader boards all the way around. I knew we had to play well and knew we had to cope pushing forwards but luckily I had a good couple of breaks and also played very well, so I’m very pleased.

“It’s a dream come true. If I’m honest, to win any event on the European Tour is amazing. You have to play some world-class golf, but for it to be a Rolex Series with the class of field that was this week is deeply satisfying, and yeah, incredibly pleased.

Ends.

By V.Krishnaswamy, @Swinging_Swamy

Anirban Lahiri would not have been happy leaving for home in Palm Beach at the end of the Sanderson Farms after playing his final round in three-under 69 and finishing a modest T-37 on Sunday in Jackson, Mississippi, US.

Lahiri, who earned his ticket to Sanderson with a Top-10 in Corales Dominican Republic, needed a Top-10 finish to get into the next event, the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. He seemed to have a good chance at the halfway stage, before a bruising third round of five-over 77 ruined the chances.

Yet, Lahiri gave it his all with a 3-undet 69 that began with four birdies in first 10 holes, but again the putts did not fall after that and he also closed with a bogey on 18^th  for four birdies and one bogey in the final round. It saw him finish T-37 after T-36 at Safeway. and T-6 at Corales.

Sergio Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion, won his first PGA Tour title since the Augusta success, as he closed with a birdie on 18th for 5-under 67 and a total of 19-under to beat the 2015 Sanderson winner, Peter Malnati (63) by one shot. J.T. Poston (70) was third at 16 under.

On the finish this week, a forward-looking Lahiri described it as, “Some progress but a lot of work still to do.”

Talking about the next few weeks, Lahiri said,” The plan is to get back and work hard on the body and mind for next three weeks and start again at Bermuda. I will then probably need to get into Top-10 to get to the Houston Open the following week.” The re-scheduled Masters for 2020 will follow the Houston Open.

On his thoughts for the day, Lahiri said, “The mindset was to reset today. I had a small error in my putting setup yesterday (third round) that I fixed latter on Saturday evening. So the effort was to go really low but had too many putts today that did everything but go in. Sometimes they don’t drop and this was one of those weeks. I have a nice window ahead of me to reflect and clean up on the areas that need work and come back out all guns blazing.”

Lahiri after being 8-under for 36 holes fell to 3-under on third day. In the final round Lahiri found about a third of the fairways and hit just over 50 per cent of the greens in regulation with 10 out of 18. But what him hurt was that he once again missed a few putts in the nine to 15 feet range especially over three of the last four holes.

Lahiri birdied the Par-5 third with a 101-yard approach to nine feet and added a second one on the par-5 fifth. It raised visions of a good finish as he birdied eighth and turned in 3-under. A 28-foot conversion for a fourth birdie on Par-3 10^th made It even better, but then the birdies ran out. He also closed with a bogey on 18^th, where he two-putted from just over eight feet after chipping well from the rough.

Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan finished as the leading Asian. Pan shot a final round 68 to finish T12, his best finish since a T11 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in November, 2019. His four-day total of 13-under was also his lowest since the Mayakoba event. Pan missed out on a top-10 after ending his day with a bogey on 18. Sungjae Im (66) finished T-28 and Si Woo Kim (67) was T-37.

A week after falling out of the top 50 in the world for the first time since 2011, Garcia won for the 11th time on the PGA TOUR and the 31st time worldwide, which will bring him back into Top-50.

Garcia has now won PGA TOUR wins in three different decades (2000s, 2010s, 2020s) and he also won in Europe in 1999.

It was a great week for Garcia, who came into this event off missed cuts  at Safeway Open and the U.S. Open. Making his debut at Sanderson Farms, Garcia, 40,  joined leader in the clubhouse Peter Malnati at 18-under with an eagle at the par-5 14^th hole after a 5-wood from 260 yards to 3 feet, 5 inches before securing victory with birdie at the final hole.

The 11^th PGA Tour win fetches Garcia 500 FedExCup points and invitations to the Sentry Tournament of Champions, 2021 Masters Tournament, THE PLAYERS Championship and PGA Championship.

Ends.

By V.Krishnaswamy, @Swinging_Swamy

Shubhankar Sharma was going along fine till midway through the back nine as he was even par through 12 holes with three birdies and three bogeys, but then the weather changed dramatically at the ASI Scottish Open in North Berwick,  Scotland.

Over the next four holes, dropped five shots with a double bogey on 13th and bogeys on the next three holes before closing with pars on last two. From even par through 12, he fell to 5-over 76 and from being inside Top-10 at one point, he ended at T-47 at the wet Renaissance Club..

Even as Sharma dropped, Malaysian star Gavin Green made the most of an early tee time. Starting the day at even par after rounds of 70-71 on first two days, Green,  former Asian Tour No, 1, had an eagle for the second day running. He eagled the Par-5 10^th, after an eagle on Par-5 16^th on second day. He also had three other birdies. Apart from a bogey on first, he did not drop any more shots.

Among other Asian Tour members in the field, Kalle Samooja (65-70-74) was T-10, Wang Jeunghun (73-68-70) was T-31, Li Haotong (68-70-74) and Lee Min Woo (66-74-72) were T-39, Masahiro Kawamura (69-69-77) was T-58, while Wu Ashun (70-70-77) was T-63, and Scott Hend (71-70-77) was T-65^th.

Sharma said, ““These were the most challenging conditions I have played in. At time the rain was sideways and it was difficult to grip the clubs.”

He added, “I have one more round and the weather is still going to be tough, so a decent round could help me move up considerably.”

On the rain and how he felt later, he added, “We were soaked to the skin and had to quickly take off all as soon as we got to the hotel. It was quite an experience”

Robert Rock produced a solid 1-overr 72 in tough conditions to take a two shot lead into the final round. It was Scottish weather at its challenging best and the leading players were moving backwards instead of forwards as dropped shots became common. Rock is nine-under and two clear of 2-time Rolex series winner Tommy Fleetwood (69), Ian Poulter (73), Marcus Kinhult (71) and Wade Ormsby (69), a former winner on Asian Tour.

Gavin Green, who finished early, had a 67, the day’s best card which was equalled by Victor Dubuisson and Adri Arnaus.

Fleetwood, 29, moved up the leaderboard and will tee it up in final group tomorrow alongside leader Rock and Ormsby.

Fleetwood is joined at seven under par alongside Ryder Cup teammate Ian Poulter, who battled to a 73, Swede Marcus Kinhult (71) and Ormsby (70).

Home favourite Robert MacIntyre carded a 68 to sit in a group of 12 players at four under including fellow Scotsmen Grant Forrest and Marc Warren, and Rolex Series champions Brandon Stone and Lee Westwood.

Rock is now coach to some of the European Tour’s biggest stars and his two wins one at the 2012 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, where he held off Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.

He achieved a top five in July at the Betfred British Masters and has been trending in the right direction, with only a disappointing third round stopping him from contending at last week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

Overnight leader Lucas Herbert shot 8-over 79 and dropped from -11 to -3 and is now T-22.

Home favourite Robert Macintyre carded 68 to sit in a group of 12 players at four under including Lee Westwood and Brandon Stone.

Ends.

By V.Krishnaswamy, @Swinging_Swamy

Anirban Lahiri started the third day well as he holed an eight-footer for birdie on the second hole suggesting a good moving day at the Sanderson Farms Championship, but as things turned out, it was to be his only birdie of the day following a forgettable day on the greens, where time and again he missed inside 6-7 feet and dropped a lot of shots. He finished with 77, equalling his worst round in 2020 at the American Express in January. He tumbled from overnight T-7 to T-52 in Jackson, Mississippi.

With the leader board crowded as it is, Lahiri who was five behind the then-leader Keegan Bradley after the second round, is now 11 behind the new leader Cameron Davis (63), Sergio Garcia and JT Poston (69), who are all 14-under.

As Lahiri fell from being the top Asian, Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan followed his second round 69 with a third round 68 and at 9-under, he rose to T-14, while Kyoung Hoon Lee (70) at 5-under was T-39. Sungjae Im (72) was T-52.

Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Byeonghun An,  Xinjun Zhang, Satoshi Kodaira, Sung Kang and KJ Choi had missed the cut.

For Lahiri, it was a massive reversal of form and fortunes as in terms of statistics on shots gained in putting Lahiri, who had gained 1.89 strokes on the first day, lost 4.41 on the third day.

Yet, he was marginally better in terms of finding the fairways – he found just three on the second day and it was six in the third round and he reached 10 of the 18 greens in regulation.

In his third round at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Anirban Lahiri hit 6 of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens in regulation, finishing at 3 under for the tournament. Lahiri finished his day tied for 52nd at 3 under; J.T. Poston, Cameron Davis, and Sergio Garcia are tied for 1st at 14 under;

Among the areas that Lahiri would be concerned about is the Par-5 scoring. He was 2-under for the Par-5s on the first day and then even par for those long holes on second. On the third, he dropped a shot each on two of them on front nine and parred the other two. On the 612-yard Par-5 fifth he reached the green in three and then three-putted from 12 feet for a bogey.

His putting on the pure and fast greens, which was working so well on Thursday had just disappeared. He dropped a 4-footer for par on Par-5 fifth, a six-footer for par on Par-4 eighth and in between missed two other putts of 11 to 13 feet on front nine. On the back nine, he again missed putts inside six feet on 11^th, 13^th and 15^th. His longest putt during the day was eight feet five inches on the second and it fetched him his sole birdie, as he carded a disappointing 77. Lahiri needs a Top-10 finish to get into next week’s Shriners Children’s Hospital Open in Las Vegas.

Lahiri’s third-round playing partner Brandt Snedeker put together a fine back nine with four birdies in his 67 and with Kristoffer Ventura, he was tied for fourth at 13 under. Overnight leader, Keegan Bradley, Denny McCarthy and Aaron Wise are tied for 6th at 12 under.

Garcia, who revealed that he has often been putting with his eyes closed to get a better feel, seems to be doing great as he shot a bogey free 6-under 66 to share the 54-hole lead in his debut at the Country Club of Jackson.

As many as 10 players are separated by four shots, setting up for a tight battle on Sunday.

Davis opened with five straight birdies, and the Australian’s biggest highlight was a second shot to 10 feet for eagle on the par-5 14th hole that carried him to a 9-under 63. He post 14-under 202, and later Garcia and Poston joined him. Poston did reach 15-under but dropped a shot on 16^th to fall to 14-under as he saved a par on 18^th from the bunker.

Ends.

By V.Krishnaswamy, @Swinging_Swamy

Shubhankar Sharma, buoyed by having his long-time friend Ainesh Ahluwalia as his caddie, produced a terrific finish in the second round at the Scottish Open in North Berwick, Scotland.

He carded 4-under 67, only his second round in the 60s in more than two months. It was also only his third round in the 60s this entire year.

The 24-year-old Sharma carded an eventful four-under 67, equaling his best in 2020, which was a 67 in the second round of the Portugal Masters two weeks ago. Friday’s eventful round at the challenging Renaissance Club included an eagle, five birdies and an eagle that took his 36-hole total to 5-under. He was lying tied-13^th the best he has been at the halfway stage of any event in 2020.

The other Indian challenger, Gaganjeet Bhullar, missed his second straight cut as he shot 77-73.

Australian Lucas Herbert made the most of early favourable conditions to take a one-shot lead into the weekend. He added 65 to his opening 66 to lead at 11-under par as he searched for his second European Tour title in 2020.

Englishman Robert Rock (65-67) sits one shot off the pace, with his countrymen Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter (67-66) and two-time Rolex Series winner Lee Westwood (62-71) forming the chasing pack.

Among other Asian Tour members in the field, Kalle Samooja (65-70) was T-6, Li Haotong (68-70) and Masahiro Kawamura (69-69) were T-19, Lee Min Woo (66-74) was T-41^st while Wu Ashun (70-70), Wang Jeunghun (73-68) and Scott Hend (71-70) were T-53^rd.

Some well-known names missing the cut were 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett, Justin Harding, Martin Kaymer, Sam Horsefield, Graeme McDowell, Thomas Pieters and last week’s winner John Catlin and Jazz Janewattananond.

Sharma began with a bogey on 10^th, but made amends with an eagle as he hit driver and 4-Iron to 25 feet and holed it on Par-5 16^th. On his second nine, the back stretch of the course, he had five birdies including one with a 20-footer on eighth, which was his fourth in a row. Sharma said, “I hit my irons well and except for a couple of long ones, I hit it close to get the birdies.”

When Sharma dropped a shot with what he himself described as a ‘silly’ bogey on fourth, his 13^th of the day he was even par through 13 and at 1-under for the tournament he was in danger of missing yet another cut, which ultimately fell at 1-under. Four birdies from 14t to 17^th ensured a good solid position to make a charge over the weekend.

A pleased Sharma said, “I had a pretty good day today and was pretty happy with the way I played, especially to make those (four) birdies towards the end. I had a silly bogey on fourth, which was my 13^th. Earlier I started the round with a bogey on 10th.”

“To be honest I have been playing well for the past few weeks but the scores haven’t been great. I’ve been feeling very good since last week. Sure, the Irish Open was a very tough but we also got a few bad breaks.”

Sharma was still happy with his hitting, though his game on the greens was letting him down so far. “Yet I was very confident with the way I was striking the ball but my putting wasn’t up to the mark last week. This week I did a lot of work on the green with Ainesh, my friend, who is on the bag this week. After the first round I did some more work on the greens. Today I made some very crucial putts so everything kind of fell in in place.”

On his caddie this week, Sharma added, “I am very happy having my friend Ainesh on the bag. This bubble system is fantastic but it also means you can’t really go out and you have to stay in your hotel room and just go the golf course and come back. So it tis nice to have my friend on the bag and we have so much to talk about. He knows me well and helps me a lot with my game as well. He has been a friend for long and knows my game well, so he can understand the swing and technical aspects of the game. He is also helping in reading lines of greens has been good. So, I am pretty excited about the finish today and hopefully I can carry that momentum tomorrow and have a good weekend.”

Ends.

By V.Krishnaswamy, @Swinging_Swamy

Anirban Lahiri hung in tight and grinded it out for a card of 2-under 70 in windy conditions on a day when his driver was very errant in the second round of the Sanderson Farms  Championship.

Lahiri stayed at tied-seventh but slipped to five shots behind the leader. Lahiri was eight-under-136 through 36 holes as Keegan Bradley (65) shot a brilliant 65 to get to 13-under-par and led the field by two in Jackson, Mississippi.

Lahiri’s accuracy took a major hit in swirling conditions as he found only three fairways and two-thirds of the greens, way below 50 per cent fairways and 83 per cent of the greens in regulation on the first day. His putting, too, left him disappointed.

Also, a double bogey on the sixth, his 15tth hole of the second day, ended a fine 32-hole bogey-free streak. Another disappointing bit was that Lahiri was unable to birdie any of the four Par-5s as against two on the first day. He now has 10 birdies against one double bogey in 36 holes.

Lahiri also came agonisingly close to a hole-in-one on Par-3 13^th, his fourth hole of the day when his tee shot landed five inches from the cup. While that was a great feeling, Lahiri rued missing as many as three birdie putts from inside 10 feet besides a less than six footer for a bogey on sixth.

“I had some trouble with the driver and did not find many fairways. I hit very few fairways (just three). The wind was swirling most of the time and I was left guessing. But I did have a decent start with three birdies in the first six holes after starting from the tenth,” said Lahiri, who also missed a fair number of putts from distances he had made look easy on the first day. He, however, did have a 25-foot conversion for birdie on Par-4 12^th, his third hole of the day, which was followed by the near ace.

“I lost concentration around the turn,” he added. “I missed the fairway and went into a greenside bunker.” From there he went to the fringe and had less than six feet for a bogey but missed it for a double.

He had three birdies on the front nine on 12, 13 and 15 and closed the day with one more on ninth.

Lahiri, who has had his putting coach on site this week, went for a practice session to hit some balls on the driving range and putting green. “I managed to get a good session later on and am ready for the weekend,” said Lahiri.

Lahiri, who got into the field this week after a Top-10 finish last week at Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic, needs a similar Top-10 for a place in next week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children open in Vegas. “My eligibility is such this year. But I am looking forward to a good weekend and rest will take care of itself.”

Lahiri, who has not won since 2015 in his home event, the Hero Indian Open on Asian and European Tours, was T-36 at Safeway Open and then T-6 at Corales, which was his first Top-10 in almost two years.

Bradley rode a hot putter even as his iron play, too, helped him get close to the pins on way to a 7-under 65. Playing at the Country Club of Jackson for the first time, Bradley made three straight birdies on the back nine to take the lead and closed with another short birdie putt to take a two-shot lead over J.T. Poston ( 67) and Charley Hoffman (69).

Monday qualifier M.J. Daffue of South Africa, who made an event for the third time since July and through qualifiers, added 69 to his first round 65 and was fourth at 10-under.

While Lahiri was the best among Asian stars, Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan returned a 69 with five birdies against two bogeys for RT-24. Korea’s Si Woo Kim (69), Sungjae Im (70) and K.H. Lee (73) all made the halfway cut which fell at 141, but Kiradech Aphibarnrat (77-68), Byeong Hun An (73-75), Xinjun Zhang (73-75), Satoshi Kodaira (74-77) and Sung Kang (74-79) and KJ Choi (76-73) missed the cut.

Ends.