Johannesburg, South Africa, March 8: Shubhankar Sharma turned in another super performance as he carded 6-under 65 in the second round of the Joburg Open heading into the weekend at Houghton Golf Club. Following up on his first round 66, Sharma is now 9-under and third at the halfway stage.
Sharma is just two shots behind leader, Shaun Norris (66-63), who battled through the pain due to an ear infection and still managed to lead at 11-under with Frenchman Adrien Saddier (65-65) in second place. Sharma and Connor Syme (66-65) are tied third.
Apart from Sharma, there was further good news for India, as Veer Ahlawat, who got to the DP World Tour by topping the PGTI Order of Merit, shot 7-under 63, the day’s equal best and moved from Tied-127th after first round to Tied-30th after the second round.
Sharma, the winner of the 2017 Joburg Open, was looking forward to the weekend and was feeding off the good memories. He said, “Coming back to South Africa is always special, and the Joburg Open was my first win and which got me onto the DP World Tour. I still fondly remember my win here. It was life changing.”
Ahlawat was thrilled with the 7-under 63, which is his best on the DP World Tour. He said, “My game was feeling solid since the start of the week even in the practice round. I was hitting the ball really well. So I knew the game was pretty good. But in the last few tournaments I was struggling with my short game a little bit.
This week, even the short game was feeling solid. Yet during the first round, I didn’t hole a lot of putts. I was struggling to read the real lines well.
But today (in the second round), I did strike the ball really well and I hit the shots to within a 10 feet circle a lot of times. The good thing was I was able to hole putts so that’s what helped me go low.
I knew I needed a low round to make the cut. In my mind the cut was going at three-under par so I knew I would need to shoot at least a six-under par round to have a chance to make the cut. I’m feeling confident about the game. Ball striking is good and I’m giving myself a lot of birdie chances so that’s good.”
Norris heads into the weekend hunting his third DP World Tour title, and his second in just under three months after winning December’s Alfred Dunhill Championship.
