Shamim, Arjun Sharma in shared lead at Players Championship

By Rahul Banerji

Delhi’s Shamim Khan brought all his experience into play to card a three-under 69 and move into the joint lead with Arjun Sharma in the Players Championship in Coimbatore on Thursday.

Greater Noida’s Sharma and Shamim were on 8-under 136 at the Rs 50 lakh event presented by KGiSL at the Coimbatore Golf Club.

Bangalore’s Khalin Joshi, one of the pre-event favourites, had a 68 for third place on 7-under 137, the PGTI said.

Ahmedabad youngster Varun Parikh held sole possession of fourth place on 6-under 138 with rounds of 70 and 68, his 4-under effort on Thursday being an error-free one.

M. Dharma, also from the Garden City, was T5 on 5-under 139 having matched the course record of 65. He was alongside Akshay Neranjen (70), making his pro debut this week.

Shivendra Singh Sisodia matched the 65 to equal the course record set by Vikrant Chopra and Kapil Kumar in 2014.

Gurgaon’s Sisodia was tied seventh on 4-under 140 along with the Chandigarh duo of Abhijit Singh Chadha and Harendra Gupta and Bangalore’s Trishul Chinnappa.

The cut came at 4-over 148 with 60 professionals making the money rounds.

Slow start

Two-time PGTI Order of Merit champion Shamim (67-69) made a slow start on the back nine with an early birdie and bogey.

He got a roll after the turn with three consecutive birdies on four, five and six which included a 15-foot conversion.

Shamim then had another bogey-birdie sequence to end the day on top of the leaderboard.

Shamim said, “Playing after three months and leading is always good for confidence.

“Today the wind was less as compared to day one. My back nine was not great but I made up on the front nine. This round kept the rhythm going for me.”

Arjun Sharma (67-69), struggling for form in the first half of the 2022 season, followed up his error-free 67 from round one with yet another super performance to move up one spot from his overnight tied second.

The 29-year-old had an early bogey but fought back with a four-foot eagle conversion on the third and birdies on the fourth and ninth to make the turn on 3-under.

Sharma then added two birdies and as many bogeys on his way back as well as two good pars to stay in contention.

Better round

Arjun said, “I shot five-under in milder conditions in the morning session on day one but my three-under today was better because it was a grind due to the extremely windy conditions in the afternoon session.

“It was a little frustrating on the back-nine as I dropped two shots. So the birdie on the last hole was a big confidence-booster.”

After poor starts on day one both Dharma (74-65) and Sisodia (75-65) got back in the mix with their record scores.

Dharma went bogey-free after hitting 17 greens in regulation and missing only two fairways on a day that saw him climb 50 spots up the leaderboard.

Sisodia drove it to perfection and made some solid recoveries in hitting nine birdies and two bogeys. Shivendra gained 62 places on Thursday.

Defending champion K. Prabagaran of Sri Lanka as well as all the four Coimbatore-based golfers, one professional and three amateurs, missed the cut.

Also read: Sethie thrives in gusty Coimbatore for early Players’ lead