Shubhankar Sharma in share of halfway lead at Irish Open

From a Correspondent

Straffan, County Kildare (Ireland): Shubhankar Sharma topped the leaderboard alongside Jordan Smith at the halfway stage of the 2023 Horizon Irish Open after front-nine fireworks saw the first-round leader follow up Thursday’s 65 with a 66 on day two.

The Indian star went into the second round with a one-shot advantage after carding an eagle and five birdies in his flawless opening effort.

Sharma soon put considerable distance between himself and the chasing pack after making seven birdies and no bogeys in a fantastic front-nine 28.

But after two bogeys and another birdie on the back nine saw Sharma head into the clubhouse on 13 under par, he was reined in by England’s Smith, who fired a wonderful 65 in the afternoon to join him at the top.

Smith had briefly overtaken Sharma after making eight birdies in his first 15 holes, but following a double bogey on the 17th, his 13-foot birdie at the last was only good enough for a share of the lead.

Englishman Ross Fisher was one shot back on 12 under after finishing his second successive 66 with a birdie on the 18th, with Germany’s Hurly Long a single stroke further behind in fourth place.

Busy start

Following a 30-minute delay due to early-morning fog, Sharma kicked off his second round with a close-range birdie on the first before making it back-to-back gains from 34 feet on the next.

After finding the bunker off the tee at the par-three third, Sharma managed to get up and down to keep his card clean before reeling off two more birdies on 4 and 5 to reach 11 under.

The 27-year-old’s putter continued to serve him well as he closed the front nine with a hat-trick of birdies to move to 14 under.

Sharma’s first bogey of the week arrived at the long tenth but he managed to bounce straight back with a birdie on hole 11.

He dropped another shot on 17 after finding the water there before a closing par saw him sign for a 66.

Sharma said: “It was a really quick start. A very early morning start for us, so I was a bit sleepy in the morning.

Putting magic

“I managed to make a lot of putts on the front nine. I had nine single putts, which was amazing. I don’t think I’ve done that before.

“Everything was just going nicely. I was hitting it in the right spots and I was really good inside ten feet. So it all came together.

“I’m pleased with the first two days and the performance I’ve put up. If I can take that same confidence and good game plan and a good process, I think I’ll be fine on the weekend.”

Smith made a bright start to his round, following up an opening birdie from around six feet with gains on the third and fourth.

https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.588.0_en.html#goog_370695612 After pulling off a good par save at the sixth, Smith continued his front-nine birdie blitz by picking up further shots on the seventh and ninth to turn in 30 blows.

The two-time DP World Tour winner started the back nine with a tap-in birdie before completing a hat-trick of gains from ten feet on 11 to grab a share of the lead alongside Sharma.

Brief stint

Three pars followed before Smith got his next birdie from long range on the 15th, reaching 14 under par to lead on his own.

After getting into trouble off the 17th tee, Smith surrendered a double bogey but he was perhaps lucky no further damage was done after his third shot stopped just short of the water.

He recovered with a closing birdie, holing from 14 feet on the 18th green to join Sharma in a tie at the top.

Smith is looking forward to the weekend. He said: “It’s going to be great.

“There’s going to be so many people, it’s going to be brilliant and we’ve got the weather as well so yeah, plenty of sunscreen, plenty of water and just go out there and enjoy it and play how I’ve been the last two days.” (courtesy europeantour.com)

Also read: Shubhankar Sharma the man to catch after round one fireworks