USD 6,000,000 Horizon Irish Open @ The K Club, Ireland
Subhankar Sharma leads after round 1
He had a very impressive round of 7 under with 5 birdies and an Eagle.
Leads by a stroke from 5 others after day 1.
It’s one of the big events on European Tour with 8 of the top 50 playing including Rory McIlroy!
Hope he can sustain the good work and remains in the mix on Sunday.
Started the last round badly with a double bogey on the first hole and did well to finish 1 under. Winner was at -14 and so a big chance missed on securing a win or finishing at least top 3. Still a great result nonetheless.
Good to see Shubhankar turn in a couple of good performance in high value tournaments on the DP World Tour. Moves up to #162 in the world rankings, still some ways from his career high of #64.
On the DP World Tour (f.k.a. the European Tour), Shubhankar Sharma and Manu Gandas are in the field for the upcoming $5,000,000 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship to be held from October 5-8, 2023. This tournament will be played on 3 courses in Scotland - Old Course St. Andrews, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns.
Both Shubhankar and Manu did not have a good 1st round outing at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Manu is tied-108 and Shubhankar is tied-157 in the field of 168 competitors. The cut will be after 3 rounds (each player plays a different course each of the first 3 day) and the top-60 and ties will make it to the 4th (final) round.
Both players have their work cut out for them (pun intended )
Shubhankar had a fabulous -6 score in the 2nd round! It was actually tied for the 2nd best score in the 2nd round among all golfers across all 3 courses! (The best score was 2 shots better at -8). At the end of 2nd round, he is tied-72nd at -2, just one shot below the current cut line (Note: the cut line could move above or below -3 depending upon how players score in the 3rd round). If he has a decent 3rd round, he has a shot at making the cut, which for this tournament is for top-60 and ties after 3 rounds.
Manu, on the other hand, did not have a good 2nd round and is languishing in tied-143rd place at +3. He will have to go REALLY low in the 3rd round to have any chance at making the cut.
In an elementary school in Scotland, a class was asked to write an essay on the 3rd day of Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The kid who scored full points on the essay wrote, "Waterlogged courses. No play."
OK, OK, this was a PJ based on a similar PJ I (we?) heard in my (our?) childhood which went something like this - The essay topic was Cricket Match and the student's response was "Rainy day. No play."
On a serious note, the above joke actually best describes the 3rd round action which was washed away on Saturday due to too much water on all 3 courses, making it unplayable. The 3rd round will now be played on Sunday, and the tournament has been extended to Monday for the 4th and final round.
Excellent start once again for Shubhankar. Hope he keeps the momentum and is in the last group on Sunday too.
Very odd season for Shubhankar with his form not consistent at all. 3 top 10’s this season and more than 50% cuts missed…
Hope he can finish the year well and get a Win or top 5’s.
After having a decent front-9 and keeping pace with the leader (Matthieu Pavon of France), Shubhankar's 3rd round is unraveling, and he is now 6 shots behind Pavon after 15 holes. After the 10th hole, he was at -12 and Pavon at -14. It could have been the reverse but Pavon made 3 putts from long range (2 for birdie and one for par) between holes 7 and 10 while Shubhankar missed 2 birdie putts from short range (both less than 8 feet).
I stepped away from watching the game for a few minutes and when I returned, I think Shubhankar had just finished being interviewed on the course while walking towards his golf ball, and after that he double-bogeyed and bogeyed the 12th and 13th holes respectively. I am not a fan of on-course interviews and have seen many a times on professional golf tours that the interviewed player loses their concentration. I'm not making an excuse for Shubhankar, but I think these on-course interviews should stop.
Bottom line: Yet again, an Indian player has shown a lot of promise early on in a tournament only to falter down the road. They just can't seem to get 4 good rounds. I wonder if these players work with sports psychologists?
Last edited by Vee on Sat Oct 14, 2023 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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