British Open golf: Shubhankar fires 67, moves from cut line to T-16

TROON, July 20

India’s Shubhankar Sharma, who spent three hours waiting to find out whether or not he had made the cut, zoomed up the leaderboard with a third round 67 at the 152nd Open here today. Taking advantage of the benign conditions, Sharma shot a superb 4-under that included an incredible eight birdies against two bogeys and a double-bogey. He moved from overnight T-69 to T-16, but the leaders were still on the course.

With the first half of the day providing some wonderful playing conditions, no pairing produced as many birdies as Sungae Im (six birdies) and Sharma (eight birdies).

Despite a double-bogey on the 15th, his round was a career-best at the Open. It bettered the 68s he had shot twice before in the final round of the 2019 edition and in the first round of the 2023 edition. Sharma opened with a 28-footer and then a 14-footer for birdies. Despite a bogey on the third he birdied the Par-5 fourth and the sixth. After a par on the Postage Stamp eighth, he missed the green in regulation on the ninth and gave away a bogey to turn in 2-under. The 10th was a birdie after a superb second shot. Two pars later he came to the Par-4 13th, where he birdied from 13 feet. He made 30-footer for birdie on the 16th and saw a birdie putt miss narrowly on the 17th. Then he holed an 18-footer on the 18th.

“I was not disappointed (with 15th) actually. We got a bad ruling there. We were put on the clock after there was a ball search and everything that happened, so that was why I was unhappy,” Sharma said. “But concentrating on the good things, we made two birdies coming in so I’m quite happy.”