Indian sports wrap, May 3: Shubhankar makes cut in Beijing, lies T-32nd

GOLF

Shubhankar makes cut in Beijing, lies T-32nd

Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma carded a one-over 73 in the second round to make the cut at the Volvo China Open here on Friday.

The 27-year-old had just one birdie on the second day at the Hidden Grace Golf Club to lie Tied-32nd place here.

Sharma had a bogey free 6-under 66 on the first day. He is now 5-under for 36 holes.

The other Indian golfer in the field, Om Prakash faded away after a decent first round. Prakash, who had a 70 on the first day, carded a 2-over 75 and at even par 144 he missed the cut in T-94th place.

Sharma birdied the ninth hole on the front nine but gave away two shots on the back nine on the 12th and the 14th holes, while Om Prakash had a double, two bogeys and two birdies.

At the top, Sebastian Soderberg, who shot 63 on the first day, blazed through the back nine after starting from the tenth.

He had six birdies on the back nine of the course and in his second nine he had one bogey and two more birdies for a day’s work of 7-under 65. At 16-under, he was three shots ahead of England’s Paul Warring (66-67) at 13-under.

Italian Guido Migliozzi (65-67) was third at 12-under.

-PTI

Lahiri starts with 70, lies 29th in Liv Singapore

Anirban Lahiri had a disappointing start with 1-under 70 in the opening round of the LIV Golf Singapore. The only Indian on the LIV League had five birdies against four bogeys.

Lahiri was way behind in T-29th place as Sebastian Munoz produced his best round of the 2024 season to take the first-round lead.

Munoz’s 6-under 65 at Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong course put him one shot ahead of six players — Brooks Koepka, Martin Kaymer, Kevin Na, Thomas Pieters, Cameron Tringale and Abraham Ancer.

Another eight players are two shots behind, including Joaquin Niemann, the current Individual points leader.

Top gun Jon Rahm (69) was T-22, while Cameron Smith (71) was T-35 and Phil Mickelson (72) was T-41.

In the team standings, Fireballs and Smash share the lead at 11-under, with three teams just one shot back -– Cleeks, Range Goats and Stinger GC.

– PTI

Chawrasia top Indian in tied 13th place in Korea

India’s SSP Chawrasia, who is winless on the Asian Tour since 2017, shot a bogey-free 4-under 67 to rise to tied 13th at the halfway stage of the GS Caltex Maekyung Open here on Friday.

Chawrasia, who shot 1-over 72 in the first round is now 3-under and up from overnight tied 52nd.

Chawrasia was among only two Indians to make the cut this week in Korea. The other one was Ajeetesh Sandhu (71-71) and he was tied 42nd.

Among the remaining three, Shiv Kapur (75-69) missed the cut by one shot, while S Chikkarangapa (71-77) was way off in tied 104th, and Karandeep Kochhar (78-79) was even further behind in tied 129th.

Chawrasia started from the 10th and birdied the 11th and the 18th and then added two more birdies on second and ninth.

Thailand’s Chonlatit Chuenboonngam upstaged the favoured home stars from Korea to take the halfway lead after shooting the lowest round of the week so far.

His brilliant bogey-free nine-under-par 62 featured eagles on two of the par fours and was one short of the 23-year-old course record. He shot nine-under and with his first round 71, he was 9-under and one shot ahead of Koreans Kyungnam Kang, the first-round leader, and Hongtaek Kim.

Chonlatit also missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-five ninth, which was his 18th as he began on 10, to narrowly miss matching Chinese Taipei’s Chung Chun-Hsing’s course record, set way back in 2001.

Kang carded a 69 and Kim a 65, while their compatriot Yubin Jang, a member of Korea’s gold medal winning Asian Games team last year, is another stroke back following a 69.

-PTI