Lee Westwood (Getty Inages-European Tour) and Shubhankar Sharma (File)
North Berwick, Scotland, Oct 1: Shubhankar Sharma got off to his best start since February as he carded one-under 70 in the first round of the challenging Renaissance Club in the ASI Scottish Open on Thursday.
Sharma with two birdies against one bogey is Tied-39th, even as his colleague Gaganjeet Bhullar struggled to 6-over 77 that included a closing triple bogey.
The early starters had to contend with cold, damp and windy conditions and Sharma, playing with his good friend and Indian pro player, Ainesh Ahluwalia, as his caddie, did well to do that with some steady play.
Sharma had a bogey on second, but birdies on fifth and 15th and pars rest of the round meant a 70.
Veteran Lee Westwood, who turned 47 in April, carded a flawless nine-under 62 to lead the tournament he won 22 years ago at Loch Lomond. Westwood’s card included two eagles in the space of five holes and added five birdies as the Rolex Series returned at The Renaissance Club. He led by a shot over Sweden’s Alexander Bjork and Joost Luiten of the Netherlands.
Scotland’s Scott Jamieson one of the 15 local Scottish players in the field, was on seven under, with compatriot Craig Lee another stroke back alongside England’s Robert Rock and Finland’s Kalle Samooja.
Sharma has been having a lean time on the current stretch of European Tour events, where he has missed five cuts in eight starts and had a best of T-44 at Portugal Masters.
Bhullar had another disappointing round after missing the cut last week in Northern Ireland. Bhullar had five bogeys in first 12 holes before birdies on 13th and 15th seemed to be a small consolation. He then dropped a triple bogey on Par-4 18th and ended with 77, which left him a lot of work to do to make the weekend.
Westwood, who started the year with a win at Abu Dhabi has since finished T4 at Honda Classic on PGA Tour but missed cut at Arnold Palmer before Covid halted all golf. On return he played only in Europe and was T-17 at UK Championships and T-10 at Estrella Damm Andalucia Masters before he went to US for the US Open.
Interestingly, Westwood practised at The Renaissance Club in the week before finishing 13th in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot besides which he has had plenty of other experience of the venue.
“I’ve played here loads of times,” added Westwood, who won his 25th European Tour title in Abu Dhabi in January, the last Rolex Series event before this week due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Myself and Sam (his son and caddie) came up and played it before the U.S. Open with one eye on this week. I like the course and there’s not a lot else to do, is there?”
Defending champion Bernd Wiesberger carded an opening one-under-par 70, with playing partner Tommy Fleetwood a shot better off after recovering from two over par after nine holes with four birdies on the back nine.
Among others shooting 70 like Sharma were Malaysia’s Gavin Green, Thai Jazz Janewattanond, last week’s runner-up Aaron Rai and Matt Wallace.
