Sudhir Sharma sinks Chandigarh GC record with blistering 64

By Rahul Banerji

Bangalore’s Trishul Chinnappa held on to his lead for the second day but it was Greater Noida-based golfer Sudhir Sharma’s 8-under-64 that hogged the limelight in round two of the Tata Steel PGTI Players Championship at the Chandigarh Golf Club on Wednesday.

The 31-year-old Sharma’s effort eclipsed the course record at the CGC and saw him climb 44 places to tied fourth at 8-under-136.

Chinnappa’s 3-under-69 gave him a one-shot lead at 10-under-134 at the halfway stage of the Rs. 30 lakh event. Second place was shared by Patna’s Aman Raj (68) and Bangladesh’s Md Dulal Hossain (68) at 9-under-135.

The course record of 65 was broken after 13 years after it was set by Mhow legend Mukesh Kumar in 2006 and later matched by Gaganjeet Bhullar, Gaurav Ghei, Ranjit Singh, Shiv Kapur and Chinnappa, who equalled it during the first round of the event.

The cut fell at level-par-144 with 57 professionals progressing to the money rounds.

Early bounce

Sharma (72, 64), tied 48^th and seven shots off the lead after round one, began the second day with a birdie and a bogey in his first three holes.

Thereafter, he turned in a flawless display with birdies coming almost at at will. Sharma, who went through a lean patch last year, chipped in on the fourth and converted a 30-footer on the ninth to make the turn at two-under.

The back nine saw Sharma, joint runner-up at the Panasonic Open India 2017, gain a further six shots thanks to some accurate approach play that gave him birdie chances within six feet of the cup, all of which he converted.

Sharma, two-time winner on the PGTI Feeder Tour, rounded off with birdies on the last three holes to enter the CGC record books, one of which was a sand-wedge approach shot from 104 yards on the 18^th that stopped one foot from the pin.

Greens’ consistency

Sudhir said later, “I haven’t been feeling too good about my putting for some time now. So I’ve been working on improving my consistency on the greens. The hard work seems to be paying off now as my putter did the trick today.

“After being five-under through 13 holes, I wasn’t thinking too far ahead and just played a shot at a time. It was great to close with three consecutive birdies. The two birdies I enjoyed the most came on the 10^th and 18^th. I hit extremely precise approach shots on both holes that set up the birdies.

“It’s great to have the course record in my name. This encourages me to keep up the intensity over the next two days,” added Sharma, who is searching for his maiden Tour title.

Chinnappa’s three birdie conversions on the front-nine were negated by his three bogeys. However, he fought back with a further three birdies on the back-nine to keep his lead intact.

“I feel I’m doing a lot of things right at the moment and that’s the reason I find myself in such a strong position,” Chinnappa said.

“But there is still a lot of work to be done. I need to keep creating chances for myself and do the simple things right. I played well on the front-nine today but was done in by a couple of average chip shots.”

Hanging on

Aman Raj (67-68) and Dulal Hossain (67-68) clung on to their overnight tied second place with matching rounds of 68. Aman mixed five birdies with a bogey and narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 13^th.

Dulal made an eagle, four birdies and two bogeys. His round featured two chip-ins, one for eagle on the 13^th and the other for birdie on the 18^th.

Noida’s Gaurav Pratap Singh (67) and Kolkata’s Shankar Das (68) were tied fourth alongside Sharma on 136 while Mumbai’s Anil Bajrang Mane slipped from overnight T2 to T10 at 5-under-139 as a result of his 72 on Wednesday.

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, Harendra Gupta and Aadil Bedi were the best-placed among the Chandigarh golfers at T12 on 4-under-140s.

Local amateur Sanju Kumar aced the 14^th hole in his round of 74 but missed the cut with a 6-over-150 total.

Also read: Panchkula is record 20th PGTI win for Mhow master Mukesh Kumar