Leaving early this morning (8:10 a.m.) with defending champion Justin Harding, Shubhankar Sharma confirmed his good start (65, 67). The Indian takes control of the tournament alone, slightly ahead of Masahiro Kawamura (67, 66) and Ewen Ferguson (66, 67). Starting from 10, Sharma had a complicated start to the round and was going to come out of the first leg in +1, before waking up and starting his day on hole 18 (par 5) with an eagle. The return was more prolific, with a bogey for four birdies, including two on its last two holes.
Another victory for Sharma?
At 25, Shubhankar Sharma still has (very) many years ahead of him. Yet this hope of Indian golf, two victories on the DP World Tour, has not won since 2018 (Maybank Championship and Joburg Open). With only six top 10s in 73 tournaments between 2019 and 2021, the young Sharma seemed to be in a little more difficulty, passing most of the cuts (42/73), but never playing for the win (a podium in three seasons). 2022 seems to be off to a better start for the Indian, who already finished second in Abu Dhabi at the end of January.
5 Blues will play the weekend
Five of the ten French players involved will play this weekend. Adrien Saddier (0) signs the best French card today (67, -4) after making the worst yesterday (75, +4). Frederic Lacroix is also in par, in 63rd place. Antoine Rozner had a hectic day (five birdies, six bogeys) and is 51st at -1 total. Julien Brun (-3) fell to 25th place after his day in par (71). After coming within two shots of the leader (-8 total after 10 holes), Matthieu Pavon stumbled on holes 11, 12 and 13 and finally finished at -5, thus integrating the top-10.