Shubhankar slumps to 72nd, Lowry in lead with 16-under

PORTRUSH (N Ireland), JULY 20 

A flurry of bogeys and double bogeys on the back nine spoilt the card for Shubhankar Sharma, who tumbled from tied-48th at the start of the day to a disappointing 72nd at the end of third round at the Open Championships, today.

Sharma started the day with a par and birdied the second hole. He, however, gave away the advantage with a double bogey on the par-4 fifth. A birdie on the ninth helped him turn in at par-36, but things changed drastically for the 22-year-old thereafter.

Double bogeys on 10th and 11th were followed by a birdie, but he had a bogey-bogey on the 13th and 14th, and then a double on the 15th. The birdie on 18th meant that he ended the day with a 6-over 77 and was 72nd out of 73 players that have made the cut.

“I surely would like to finish with a good final round,” said Sharma, who was clearly disappointed with the day’s outcome.

Ireland’s Shane Lowry, meanwhile, forged into the lead as he moved to 16-under on a becalmed Dunluce links. With England’s Tommy Fleetwood nipping at his heels, an inspired Lowry claimed his fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 12th to move a stroke clear to the delight of the galleries who were roaring him on across the course. Fleetwood, playing in the match ahead with Lee Westwood, was also 5-under for the day having started a shot behind Lowry and JB Holmes.

Westwood had earlier briefly gone to the top of the leaderboard after a run of three successive birdies, but dropped back to 9-under with a bogey at the 10th. — Agencies