Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma finished with back-to-back birdies to salvage a round that seemed to be getting out of hand after the first 10 holes in the first round of the Turkish Airlines Open on Thursday.
On Thursday, Sharma, playing the Maxx Montgomerie course for the first time, mixed five birdies with two bogeys and a double bogey for a one-under 71.
Sharma was Tied-37th alongside Race to Dubai leader Bernd Wiesberger and former Masters champion Patrick Reed.
Englishman Tom Lewis and Austrian Matthias Schwab carded a superb seven-under 65 each to share the lead with American David Lipsky, Belgian Thomas Pieters and Swede Alex Noren at six-under 66 each.
Justin Rose, the double defending champion, two-under for the front nine and hit two bogeys on either side of an eagle on par-5 11th to be two-under at that stage. He finished in style with a trio of birdies to reach five-under 67 and was Tied-sixth alongside 2016 Masters winner Danny Willett.
Shane Lowry carded 72 despite missing three putts inside three feet, something he said he has not done the entire year during which he won the Open Championship.
Sharma needs to get to about 70-72 to play next week in the second of three-leg Final Series. Next week’s event is the Nedbank Challenge tot be followed by the DP World Tour Championships for which only Top-50 on Race to Dubai points will qualify. At the start of his week, Sharma was 81st.
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