Shubankar fires flawless 66 at DP World Championship, Fleetwood emerge leader with 64

New Delhi, Oct 17 (PTI) In a span of just 24 hours, a “relaxed and rested” Shubankar Sharma turned despair into delight, firing a flawless six-under 66 to emerge as the best-placed Indian at tied 32nd after the second round of the inaugural DP World Championship here on Friday.

Left two-over after the opening day, Sharma relied on his mantra of "do less and rest more", producing six birdies to reach four-under 140 at the tricky Delhi Golf Club.

"Yesterday I got off to a good start but made some bad mistakes coming in, but I slept last night and I'm feeling a lot more fresh. Yeah, hit it well, putting was good, mind was clear, and in the end, I'm really happy," said the 29-year-old, who has changed his irons and been working on his technique.

"Just do less and rest more. That worked today. Just give every shot its merit." Sharma picked up birdies on the 1st, 3rd, 8th, 10th, 15th and 18th holes to cap off a spotless round.

Tommy Fleetwood, the reigning FedExCup champion, set the pace with a blemish-free 64 to take a one-shot lead into the weekend over overnight leader and playing partner Shane Lowry, who carded a steady three-under 69.

USA's Brian Harman, the 2023 Open winner, mixed eight birdies with a bogey in a 65 to join Lowry in second place at 11-under. Japan’s Keita Nakajima (65, 69) followed a shot behind, while Joost Luiten and Brandon Robinson-Thompson (69, 66) completed the top five.

Once again, all eyes were on World No. 2 and five-time Major winner Rory McIlroy, who closed with four birdies in his last six holes to return a second successive 69 and move to tied 17th.

McIlroy was greeted on the 18th green by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Narayan, Deputy CEO and CFO of DP World and the driving force behind the USD 4 million event.

"It was a strong finish, got myself sort of back in the tournament. I need a strong start tomorrow but yeah, it was much better on the back nine," he said.

Among foreign stars, American Ben Griffin (68, 68) drew attention off the course as well, enjoying his tuk-tuk rides to the Delhi Golf Club.

Among Indians, Anirban Lahiri (70, 71), Shiv Kapur (72, 69) and Dhruv Sheoran (68, 73) were tied 41st, while Abhinav Lohan (70, 72) also made the cut, which fell at two-under.

Rahil Gangjee, who was India’s best performer on Day 1, endured a disappointing outing, slipping to a four-over 76 to miss the weekend action.

The man of the moment, however, remained Fleetwood, who surged ahead with five birdies on the front nine and added three more coming home.

"I played better than yesterday. I wasn't happy with how I hit it towards the end yesterday. I hit some balls afterwards, and I felt like today the swing was in a better place," he said.

"I hit it in the fairway a lot today and from there just gave myself the chance to hit some nice irons in and putted well as well for the second day in a row.

"It's easy to talk about how many things you did well when you shot eight under, but just a really good round of golf." PTI ATK AT