By Rahul Banerji
A birdie blast carried the sizzling Shubhankar Sharma up the leader board and into tied third place on day two of the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
Sharma returned an 8-under par 64 to put himself into contention at the halfway stage of the $7 million dollar event, co-sanctioned by the PGA and Asian Tours.
Despite heavy rain, the TPC Kuala Lumpur course has played true. Sharma lies on 13 under par alongside England’s Paul Casey, a shot behind leaders Gary Woodland of the USA and Australia’s Marc Leishman
Woodland (69-61) hit a course record-equalling 11-under and Leishman (68-62) had an equally stunning 10-under round.
Gaganjeet Bhullar (69-70) was 5-under and tied 36th, Anriban Lahiri (72-74) was T73 and Rahil Gangjee (77-71) was tied 77.
Sharma spoke at length about his round, excerpts from which convey his progress towards a good finish since tying for 27th at the Open de France in early July.
“It was almost like I woke up after the front nine yesterday. I didn’t really have the best of starts, (going level par) but the next 27 holes after that have been really good.” Sharma said.
Sharma has gone 13-under (67-64) in the last 27 holes with 14 birdies and one bogey. He gained eight shots on Friday
On his Friday display
Really happy, really pleased with the way I played. Had a lot of birdie opportunities and I converted most of them, so very happy.
On his near error-free round
Yep, just the second hole, that tee shot was a bad one, but other than that I felt like I played pretty solid, hit a lot of good putts.
Even that putt that I missed on the seventh was about six, seven feet and it just broke the other way. It was great to just finish with two birdies after that.
On bringing in a low score
I just feel like all the players playing here are at a very high level. On a course like this when they get going, they will go really low and I just feel like even I belong in that league.
When I’m feeling it and I’m hitting it good, I pretty much go at every pin and I feel like I can make all the putts.
I would just say that I did get into a zone today, especially on that front nine, which is my back nine, I was pretty much going at all the pins.
Just that one bad shot on the second, but other than that I was hitting it pretty good. So really happy with where I am right now and I just want to continue doing that for the next two days.
On his last 27 holes
It’s almost like I woke up after the front nine yesterday. I didn’t really have the best of starts, but the next 27 holes after that have been really good.
On the importance of this week
It will be important, but like I said, I don’t really want to think about all of that. My goal at the start of the week was to get into a good position going into the weekend and I’ve done that.
I don’t think I could have played better than this. I wasn’t really in form before this event, I didn’t really have the best of weeks before this, but to come back strong, especially to have my coach here, we figured out a few things.
So yeah, the weekend is important on a lot of fronts – PGA Tour, Asian Tour Order of Merit, so many things – but I just want to keep it simple, just want to go out and play golf.
On what was going off in his game
Just a few changes in the body and the swing. I’ve been playing a lot this year and that’s taken a toll on the body.
There haven’t been any injuries, but it’s just tightness in a few areas and just not getting the club – I’m not really feeling tired, but it’s just the body acts in a funny way and it showed in the swing, just positions in the backswing and where I want the club to be and I’m not able to get it there.
On his best hole of the day
I made a lot of birdies, but I would say one of the good holes was the 11th hole.
I didn’t make birdie there, but I hit a very good 5‑iron. The greens are really hard, so it rolled to about 13, 15 feet past the hole, but any other green, it would have been dead next to the pin.
That was a very good shot in there, kind of gave me confidence going to the rest of the round.
Then I made so many birdies, so it’s hard to pick one hole.
Also read: Shubhankar tops Indian entries at Kuala Lumpur’s CIMB Classic
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Let us hope he can continue his good run.
Hope his luck holds in future too.