Golf roundup: Shubhankar Sharma falters in final stretch, finishes 3rd

Sun City (South Africa), November 14

India’s Shubhankar Sharma faltered towards the end with back-to-back bogeys to squander his lead and eventually finish third at the Nedbank Golf Challenge here.

Sharma (71-69-69-69) bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes to let the advantage slip as he carded a 3-under 69 in the final round late on Sunday.

The 26-year-old, who had a disappointing run after his runner-up finish in Abu Dhabi at the start of the year, finished at

9-under at the Gary Player Golf Course to claim ^372,906 in prize money. He was 11-under after 15 holes.

Sharma will now play the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai from November 17 to 20.

His only other top-10 finish this year was an impressive T-2 finish in January at the $8 million HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi.

Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood of England shot a 5-under 67 for back-to-back titles, finishing at 11-under for the tournament and winning by one shot over Ryan Fox, who ended at 10-under after carding a 68.

Sandhu top Indian

Cairo: Ajeetesh Sandhu shot a 1-under 69 to emerge as the best Indian at tied-27th at the $1.5 million International Series Egypt here. Sandhu was 7-under 283 for the week.

SSP Chawrasia (69) was the next best Indian at 3-under 277 in T-41st, while S Chikkarangappa (70) was T-45th. Viraj Madappa (72) was T-51st and Gaganjeet Bhullar (70) finished T-61st in what was a disappointing campaign for the Indians.

Andy Ogletree fired a final-round 8-under 62 to finish with a tournament total of 23-under. He won by four shots over Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger. It was Ogletree’s maiden title on the professional circuit.