India’s Shubhankar Sharma shot a fine four-under 66 to make a smart upward move in the third round of the Fort Worth Invitational golf tournament at the Colonial, late, here. The 21-year-old is now three-under 207 for 54 holes and it is lying tied 38th, a sharp rise from his overnight tied 60th place.
The senior colleague, Anirban Lahiri, who also started the third round at one-over, recovered well with three birdies over the last five holes and ended the day at two-under 68, and a total of one-under 209 in tied 56th place, which was still four places better than his previous tied 60th spot.
Shubhankar had five birdies against one bogey, but missed a few other opportunities. He was, however, sounding confident ahead of the final day.
Justin Rose, the 2013 US Open winner and Olympic gold medallist in 2016, carded four-under 66 and moved to 14-under to take a four-shot lead over a resurgent Emilian Grillo (69) and 2017 US Open champion, Brooks Koepka (67).
READ: Rose extends lead as Spieth slides
Grillo and Koepka are at 10-under, while Rickie Fowler (69) was at five-under in the tied 21st spot, while Jordan Spieth (70) was tied 38th at three-under.
Despite missing a lot of birdie chances, Shubhankar said, “It was a good day. I was three-under after five holes. Definitely, I would have liked to finish even better. However, I am very happy with the way I played. I hit a lot of shots close to the pin and gave myself birdie opportunities. I am looking forward to the final round and hopefully, I can make more or all the putts and chances I get tomorrow. I had a practice session after the round and I am ready for the final day, and looking forward.”
Shubhankar, who struggled on the first day with 73, is slowly beginning to get used to the greens and his hitting is also showing improvement. If he manages to hole a few more short putts inside 10 feet, the results could show a great improvement as is the case with Lahiri.
Rose felt good about his four-stroke lead after three rounds at Colonial, but he wasn’t getting overconfident.
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