Indian sports wrap, August 31: Diksha Dagar makes cut in Irish Open with a late birdie

GOLF

Diksha Dagar makes cut in Irish Open with a late birdie

A late birdie saved Diksha Dagar on the second day as the Indian golfer made the cut despite a round of 1-over at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open here.

The two-time Ladies European Tour winner was one shot short of the cut line when she holed a birdie on the Par-5 17th hole to get to 1-over for the day.

Olympian Diksha who shot 1-under 72 on the first day had two bogeys on the Par-5 fourth and the eighth hole on the front nine on the second day as she turned in 2-over.

At that stage she was 1-over for the tournament. The birdie brought her back to even par for the two rounds and she squeezed into weekend action in tied-55th place.

Among the other three Indians, Pranavi Urs (73-74) missed by one while Tvesa Malik Sandhu (76-78) and Ridhima Dilawari (79-76) missed the cut by a fair margin.

Ursula Wikstrom fired back-to-back rounds of 68 (-5) to lead at the halfway stage.

After some early morning fog, there was a 30-minute delay to the tee times and afternoon tee times by 20 minutes.

-PTI

Shubhankar Sharma makes cut at British Masters

Two-time winner on the DP World Tour, India’s Shubhankar Sharma moved into the weekend round action at the British Masters despite a closing bogey on Day 2, where he shot an even-par 72.

Sharma, who had shot 1-under 71 on the opening day, was 1-under after two rounds of 71-72 and placed tied-37 after 36 holes.

The other Indian in the field Om Prakash (71-83) missed the cut after a disastrous second round.

Sharma, who was T-14 last week in Denmark, will now play the third round alongside Jeff Winther and Richie Ramsay.

England’s Tyrrell Hatton held a one-shot lead at the halfway stage after adding a second-round seven under par 65 to his opening 69.

The six-time DP World Tour winner made the most of the ideal morning conditions on Friday to set the clubhouse target at 10-under par and will take a slender lead into the weekend with none of the afternoon starters able to catch him at the summit.

Among those looking to hunt him down are Jorge Campillo of Spain, Frenchman Jeong weon Ko, and South Africa’s Brandon Stone, who posted a blistering round of 64 to sit one shot off the lead at nine-under.

-PTI