Shubhankar Tied-third with Rose and McDowell at Italian Open

Rome, Oct 12 (PTI) Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma overcame his up-and-down ride in the closing stages and birdied two of his final three holes to card two-under 69 on the second day at the Italian Open.

The 23-year-old Sharma, a two-time winner on the European Tour, is now seven-under and tied-third at the Olgiata Golf Club.

Sharma had six birdies with two dropped shots and a double bogey for a 69.

SSP Chawrasia, who shot three-over 74 in the first round, was fighting back in the second round. He was four-under through 10 holes to lie one-under through 28 holes. The Indian was now inside the cut line which looked likely at Par.

Gaganjeet Bhullar, however, was likely to exit early as he was three-over through nine holes in second round after a first round 74 to get to a total of six-over.

Among those sharing the third place with Sharma was World No. 5, Justin Rose, who also carded 69.

Graeme McDowell (66), Rhory Sabbatini (70) and Andrew Johnston (68) were also at seven-under in Tied-third.

It was a strong bunch with two US Open winners in Rose and McDowell.

Right at the top was Matthew Fitzpatrick (67-65), who fired a six-under 65 to edge one shot clear of Denmark's Joachim B Hansen (67-66) at the halfway mark.

Starting from the tenth, Sharma bogeyed the 11th but fought back with birdies on 13th, 15th and 17th.

He was then hit by a double on 18th to fall back to even par for the day. A bogey on third pushed him over par, but birdies on fourth, seventh and ninth meant he was back in business at two-under for the day and seven-under for 36 holes.

Kurt Kitayama (66-70) was Tied-eighth, while Thongchai Jaidee (69-70) was T-28th with Finn Kalle Samooja (70-69) but Kiradech Aphibarnrat (69-75) missed the cut at two-over.

Also missing the cut was Gavin Green ((71-75).

First round leader, Tapio Pulkkanen (64-72) slipped to Tied-8th.

Home favourite Francesco Molinari, the 2018 Open Champion, carded a five-over par round of 76 to miss the cut by five shots, while Shane Lowry (72-71), the 2019 Open winner, also failed to make it to the weekend.

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