Sharma shoots solid 68, moves into Top-15 at KLM Open

Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma on Friday carded a solid four-under 68 in the second round to move to Tied-14th and raise hopes of a Top-10 finish at the KLM Open.

Sharma handled the strong winds well with five birdies and just one bogey to move to six-under for 36 holes.

James Morrison (67) joined Callum Shinkwin (69) in shared lead at the top of the leaderboard.

Sharma closed the day with a nice birdie on 18th to go back with a positive feel.

Meanwhile, SSP Chawrasia had only a slim hope of making the weekend rounds despite a bogey free three-under 69 on second day. He is one-under 143 and the cut is likely to fall at two-under.

 

Gaganjeet Bhullar, who after 28 holes was one-over and staring at an early exit, made three birdies in a row from 11th to 13th to get to two-under and was on the bubble with five more holes to play.

With three shots between Sharma and the current leaders, the Indian who won two European title in 2018, could even hope to make a run over the weekend on this packed leaderboard.

There were four players at eight-under, including former Masters champion Sergio Garcia, who had two more holes to play. There were another seven players at seven-under.

Morrison capitalised on favourable Friday morning conditions to claim the clubhouse lead during the second round.

The Englishman was the only player to successfully navigate his way through strong winds on Thursday afternoon to sit two shots behind overnight leader Shinkwin at four under par.

Morrison has not won since the 2015 Open de Espaa but has produced some of his best form this season in recent weeks, finishing in the top 30 in three of his last four events.

The course definitely played easier in the morning with less wind.

After the first round, Sharma was the best of the three Indians as he carded a two-under 70 that included a hat-trick of birdies here.

Sharma, playing in Europe for the first time since the 148th Open in July, had six birdies against four bogeys and he was Tied-26th on Thursday, while Gaganjeet Bhullar scored even par 72 and was Tied-65th and SSP Chawrasia had a disappointing 74 to be Tied-100th.