The kindest cut of all

Carnoustie, July 20

Shubhankar Sharma became the youngest Indian golfer to make the cut in any Major after he capped a wonderful back nine to achieve the feat at the 147th British Open Championships.

Shubhankar gave himself the perfect 22nd birthday present with that final birdie on the 18th. It was one of the four he had on the tough back nine.

“I am so, so excited right now. At the 18th, I still thought I just needed to make a par because so many players have yet to finish. After the putt dropped, I was definitely very happy. I have never played in such wet and cold conditions, changing towels and gloves so often,” said Shubhankar, who turns 22 tomorrow.

Playing on a wet and cold day, Shubhankar warmed the hearts of the Indian fans at the Carnoustie Golf Links with four birdies against one bogey on the tougher back nine to climb out of a hole at 5-over through 27 holes.

With rounds of 73-71, he is now 2-over 144 and sure to be inside the cut line. He was lying tied-53rd and is likely to move up a few more positions.

About standing on the final tee with his total reading 3-over, Shubhankar said, “After the tee shot, I just wanted to put the ball somewhere on the green and 2-putt for par. But I hit a brilliant second shot to get to 5-6 feet. My caddie Vicky said it was from the left and I said no way and felt it was straight. I could not think much as we were on the clock and I just hit straight and it dropped. It was sweet as it dropped but before that it was nerve-wracking.”  

The cut line was hovering between 2-over and 3-over, but Shubhankar seemed to have made sure at 2-over.

Lahiri 6-over

India’s other challenger Anirban Lahiri, who was 5-over in the first round, carded a 74 in the second round to lie at tied-120 with a two-round score of 150, well out of the projected cut line of 145. The top-70 and ties play the last two rounds.

Johnson, Kisner lead

2007 Masters and 2015 Open champion Zach Johnson rose to the top of the leaderboard after a splendid 4-under 67 in testing conditions when wind and rain both hampered the players He was 6-under through 36 holes, and there he was joined by first-round leader Kevin Kisner, who carded a 1-under 70 in second round. 2017 Race to Dubai champion on European Tour, Tommy Fleetwood, who was second at the US Open, looked set for a charge as he played the best round of the week at a 6-under 65 to get to a 5-under 137. Rory McIlroy (69-69) was tied-6th as the afternoon wave was still on the course.

Woods survives

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson exited with rounds of 76-72 as did two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson (75-73), but Tiger Woods fought his way with 71-71 and was in the middle of the pack at even-par for two rounds.

With conditions likely to be good tomorrow, Woods could make the charge and then chase the leaders again on Sunday.

Shubhankar, who earlier in the year missed cuts at the Masters and US Open, said he would celebrate this with a good meal with his dad Col. ML Sharma, coach Jesse Grewal and a few friends. But the bigger celebration will come later.

As for birthday celebrations, he added, “I am sure my friends will be calling and congratulating. Making the cut at the Major, which has always been my dream, is the best present I could have got. But I still have two more rounds to play.”    

Asked to recall the first time he saw an Open, he said, “The first time was probably 2003 or 2004, but even though I was playing golf even before that, I didn’t know how big the tournament was because no one in my family knew much about golf.  The first Open I can recall vividly is the 2006 edition in Liverpool when Tiger Woods won.” — PTI 

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Leaderboard 

Pos. Player Total

T-1 Zach Johnson -6

T-1 Kevin Kisner -6

T-1 Zander Lombard -6

T-4 Tommy Fleetwood -5

T-54 Shubhankar Sharma +2

T-106 Anirban Lahiri +6