Good and satisfying to play a bogey free round, says Shubhankar Sharma
Indian Shubhankar Sharma is satisfied with his opening round performance, as he was one of the only four golfers to play a bogey-free round, bringing home a card of one-under 70 at the Open Championships. Meanwhile, some of the big names like Rory Mcllroy and Tiger Woods came to grief.
Sharma had 17 pars and his sole birdie was courtesy a brilliant 30-foot monster putt and when play ended he was Tied-20th. Sharma is four shots behind the leader, J B Holmes, who birdied the 18th to move to five-under. However, the 22-year old, despite missing a few chances in the opening rounds and later in the 12th, is overall very satisfied with his opening round returns.
"I was very calm and I am proud of the way I handled myself on the course and anytime you play a bogey free round, especially in a Major, it is good and satisfying. I made a few crucial par putts coming in, especially the ones on the 14, 15, and 16th were key. And then that up-and-down birdie on 18 was nice, too. I think I played really solid today. It's not easy out there, so pretty happy with it," Sharma told PTI.
Sharma, who was playing alongside World No.1 Brooks Koepka (68), was forced to save some par putts during the course of the day.
"15 was the longest, 14 and 15 were about 5 feet. Same on the 18th, as well, was about a 5-footer. 15 was a 20-footer for par. So I was in the center of the fairway, hit a bad second shot and it was a tough up-and-down from there. Made that par putt. After that (birdie on 13) I kind of was beginning to read the line properly and made a few crucial ones coming in," Sharma said.
His playing partner, Koepka, shot three-under 68 with four birdies and one bogey. Sharma was quick to praise the decisiveness of the American.
"He just played solid. The best thing about him is that he isn't very cluttered in the mind. He's very calm on the course. He has good decision making and you can see that he's the world No. 1. He gets on the ball and gets on very quickly. I think that's the best part,” Sharma added.
However, Rory McIlroy, a big pre-tournament favourite had a day to forget. He opened with a quadruple bogey and ended with a triple bogey for an eight-over 79. This could easily seem him miss the cut at the tournament. The 2013 Open winner, Phil Mickelson went to five-over 76, while three-time Open winner, Tiger Woods, was struggling at seven-over 78.
