Sharma drops double bogey on closing hole for 2nd day in a row, lies 24th in Korea  

Incheon, South Korea, April 28: Shubhankar Sharma finished his round with a double bogey for the second day in a row at the 2023 Korea Championship Presented by Genesis. Sharma, who was 4-under through 17 holes, dropped two shots on the Par-5 18^th and slipped back to 2-under 70 for the day.

In the first round he was 3-under through 17 holes after starting from the 10^th and then ran into a double bogey on par-4 ninth to finish at 1-under 71.

After two rounds, Sharma, who has otherwise been showing good touch, is 3-under 141 and tied 24tht. But for the two doubles, Sharma may well have been very closed to the top.

India’s other contender in the field, Manu Gandas playing his first season on the DP World Tour, shot 74-74 and exited early from the event.

Home favourite Park Sanghyun produced a big finish on Friday to sit alongside Yannik Paul at the top of the leader board at the halfway stage.

After firing three front-nine birdies to turn in 33, the 40-year-old Park dropped his first shot of the day at the 16th to fall one stroke adrift of early clubhouse leader Paul’s eight-under-par total with two holes to play.

Sharma, whose best result this season has been T-7 at the Abu Dhabi Challenge, picked birdies on three Par-5s, the third, seventh and 15tht apart from Par-4 tenth. Ironically, he came to grief on par-5 18^th with a double bogey.

The South Korean saved his best for last, completing an impressive up-and-down from around 25 feet on the 18th green to sign for a second-round 69 and grab a share of the lead after German Paul made five birdies and a solitary bogey in the morning to post a second successive 68.
First-round leader Antoine Rozner was one shot back in a tie for third alongside fellow Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon after a roller-coaster 74 that included three birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey. Rozner had shot 63 in the first round and was 11 shots worse in the second.

Scotland’s Scott Jamieson, who tied Lorenzo-Vera for the low round of the day with his 65, was then amongst six players on six under par.