Wentworth, UK, Sept 12: Shubhankar Sharma closed with four successive birdies for a round of 4-under 68 that saw him rise to T-12 and set him for a fine finish at the BMW PGA Championship. Sharma had one birdie and one bogey in his first 14 holes and then picked four birdies on last four. A day earlier he had four birdies against one bogey for a 69.
Sharma has had a good run last few weeks. He was T-12 last week at the Italian Open and two starts prior to that he was T-9 at Cazoo Classic and T-16 at Hero Open. In between at the European Masters he was well placed after three rounds before running into trouble on last day.
At T-12 in Wentworth, after three rounds he is set for another good finish that should carry him closer to the first goal of getting to Top-60 for the Race to Dubai World Tour Championships at the end of the season.
Francesco Laporta is in pole position to make his maiden European Tour win a Rolex Series title at the BMW PGA Championship. However, the Italian has a bunched leaderboard lining up behind him heading into the final day and several of them are vying for a place on European Ryder Cup team.
The 30-year-old carded a three under 69, which included an eagle at the par five fourth, to move to a 14 under total and edge one ahead of Englishman Laurie Canter, who signed for a two under 70.
Amongst those a shot further back on 12 under were former FedEx Cup winner Billy Horschel and 2013 Masters Champion Adam Scott, while 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry and two-time Rolex Series winner Bernd Wiesberger were both on 11 under par heading into the final day.
Lowry and Wiesberger are both one low round away from sealing automatic qualification to the Ryder Cup, while Justin Rose would need to come from five strokes back to get the win he requires to move into the automatic qualification spots – the former U.S. Open winner sits on nine under par.
Lee Westwood is also in danger of slipping out of the automatic qualification places for Whistling Straits in two weeks’ time.
