Sharma recovers well for tied 19th in Mexico as McIlroy takes early lead

By Rahul Banerji

Shubhankar Sharma made a late recovery with two birdies over his last four holes for a 1-under par 70 in the first round of the $10.25 million World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship on Thursday.

Sharma, 22, who led after 54 holes on his PGA Tour debut at the 2018 edition, was tied-19th on a day Rory McIlroy (63) and Dustin Johnson (64) pulled clear of the field at the par-71 Chapultepec Golf Club. Last year Sharma eventually finished in a share of ninth place behind winner Phil Mickelson, with whom he had started the day.

On a good day for Asian golfers, Thai star Kiradech Aphibarnrat produced his best opening round of the year on the PGA Tour with a 3-under 68 for a share of seventh place, while China’s Haotong Li dropped two late shots to settle for a 69, leaving him tied 11^th. For his part, Sharma had a rollercoaster day with four birdies against three bogeys for a share of 19^th place.

Fiery round

Kiradech traded five birdies against two bogeys at the Club de Golf Chapultepec to trail first round leader Rory McIlroy, who enjoyed a blistering round that featured an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey.

“It’s good to get off to a good start. I hit it quite nicely early on to make those early birdies and kept the ball pretty much in play for most of the round,” said Kiradech, who finished tied fifth at the WGC-Mexico last year and is playing in his first full season on the PGA Tour.

“Made some mistakes to bogey 12 and 13 but I managed to finish strongly by holing a long putt on 17. I hope to build on this and keep playing well as I enjoy playing on this golf course.”

Big drives

Sharma hit some big drives of 350 yards and over and found 13 of 18 greens in regulation. On the massive 622-yard Par-5 11^th hole, Sharma bombed a 351-yard drive and chipped his third shot to three feet for a birdie to get to level par. He was to drop one more shot but the two late birdies pulled him back up the leaderboard.

Day’s leader McIlroy was four-under for his first nine, came close to a hole-in-one on the Par-4 10^th and then holed an eagle from six feet. McIlroy had seven birdies and an eagle and a bogey when he went into rough first and then the cart path on Par-5 sixth.

Tame start by Tiger

Tiger Woods went out-of-bounds with his first shot in Mexico, where he is playing for the first time. Woods’ opening tee shot off a 5-wood landed on the green but it was the wrong green, from where it bounced to the left and beyond the out-of-bounds stake into the bushes.

Woods started with the double bogey but three birdies in a row settled him before he bogeyed the eighth from close. On the back nine he mixed a bogey and a birdie for a level par 71.

Johnson who won the WGC-Mexico Championship two years ago, was bogey free with seven birdies and had back-to-back eagle putts while Justin Thomas, who lost in a playoff last year to Mickelson, had a 5-under 66. He was tied with Matt Kuchar, who has already won in Mexico this season at the Mayakoba Classic.

Mickelson, who won at Pebble Beach last week bogeyed three of his first four holes on the back and shot 40 on the front and opened with a 79.

Khaitan, Anand round off Gurgaon leg

At the Classic Golf and Country Club, meanwhile, Karan Khaitan in handicap category A (0-17) and Rakesh Anand in category B (18-24) qualified for the national finals of the Mercedes Trophy 2019 on the third day of the Gurgaon leg qualifiers on Thursday.

They clinched the final two qualification spots available from the leg by carding a nett scores of 73 and 72.8 respectively. The Mercedes Trophy has so far seen 30 qualifiers including Thursday who will be competing in the national finals at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune from March 27 to 29.

Other winners included Shivraj Karayat who won the Ballantine’s long drive challenge with a 314-yard effort, and Shekhar Agarwalwho took the Standard Chartered closest to pin contest by landing the ball here feet from the pin.

In the Mercedes-Benz closest to pin in two shots, Sant Dhiman landed the ball four feet away while Narender Pal won the Mercedes-Benz straightest drive contest by landing the ball a foot from the line.

Also read: Shubhankar eager to recapture WGC-Mexico momentum