Saudi international: India's Shiv Kapur tied-4th after strong finish

PTI

Kaec (Saudi Arabia), Feb 3

India's Shiv Kapur landed four birdies on the back-nine to lie tied-fourth with a 5-under card at the star-studded $5 million Saudi International Golf Championship here today.

Kapur was sitting alongside former world No. 1 Dustin Johnson and Kim Joohyung, the latest Asian Tour Order of Merit winner.

Kapur, who turns 40 in less than 10 days, was three behind leader Matteo Manassero (62). England's Sam Horsfield and Spaniard Adri Arnaus carded 64s and were tied-second.

Rashid Khan too had a good comeback after a sedate front-nine for a round of 4-under 66 that placed him T-12.

Shubhankar Sharma was tied-23rd after shooting a 3-under round. Sharma, runner-up at the Abu Dhabi Championship last month, looked in great form with three birdies on the trot in his first four holes after starting from the 10th. He parred the next 10 before dropping a shot on the sixth, but made up for it with a birdie on his penultimate hole.

"It was a pretty steady round,” Kapur said. “Nothing brilliant, just lots of fairways and greens. A couple of greens that I missed narrowly, I managed to get up and down. I never really put myself in trouble, so you know it was one of those sort of stress-free rounds. The greens are a little bit tricky to read here. Fast greens late in the day can be a bit of a challenge as the ball kind of bounces around a bit," he added. —