WGC Mexico Championship | Shubhankar Sharma keeps hopes alive with two-shot lead
The third round of WGC Mexico Championship on Saturday saw nervy few moments from India’s Shubhankar Sharma, who managed to keep his slim two-shot lead intact. A win on Sunday would see Sharma becoming the youngest player ever to win a WGC event since Patrick Reed did that back in 2014.`
Surviving some tensed situations, Sharma remained ahead of big names like Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson on Saturday. He hit 11 of 14 fairways, which was his highest total of the week, and 10 of 18 greens in regulation in the third round. In his two-under par 69, Sharma had five birdies and three bogeys in, as his 13-under par total of 200 saw him go two clear.
Leading by two at the start of the day, Sharma started well with three birdies in the first six holes and bounced back bogey at the eighth with a birdie at 11, before surrendering a shot at 13. He managed to roll in a 16-foot birdie putt at 14 to regain his only possession of the lead and was two clear even after his bogey at 16.
This meant he had to close with a brilliant par save at the last as he calmly rolled in a 15-foot putt to maintain his lead. Sharma is eyeing to become the first since Jim Benepe at the 1988 Western Open to win a first US PGA Tour title in the tour debut.
"I don't really want to think about it. That would put too much pressure on me. I just got off to a great start. Made a few mistakes coming in, but I've done a fairly good job of the distances and the yardages," said Sharma, reported AFP.
His European Tour wins this season at Johannesburg and the Maybank Championship have moved Sharma to the No. 75 rank in the world, as he makes his first start in an elite World Golf Championships event.
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