Shubhankar Sharma fires bogey-free 66 as five Indians make the cut at DP World India Championship

Rory McIlroy delights fans with late birdie run in New Delhi

Shubhankar Sharma came good when it mattered as he compiled his best round in almost seven months to lead a group of five Indians into the weekend round of the inaugural $ 4 million DP World India Championship.

Buoyed by the support of young adoring fans, Sharma picked three birdies on either side of the Delhi Golf Club. Sharma, who could have gone even lower, was Tied-32nd, while Dhruv Sheoran (68-73), Shiv Kapur (72-69) and Anirban Lahiri (70-71) were 3-under for 36 holes and Tied-41st. Joining them for the weekend action will be Abhinav Lohan (70-72) in Tied-58th place.

The crowds at the Delhi Golf Club, who were following Rory McIlroy all day long, went delirious with joy as McIlroy was greeted by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Narayan, the Deputy CEO and Chief Financial Officer of DP World and the brain behind the $4 million event, as he walked off the 18th green. McIlroy finished with four birdies in the last six holes and was Tied-17th at 6-under and six shots behind the leader Tommy Fleetwood.

Even as the greens were firming up and the pin positions being trickier than the first day, the day’s low score was once again 8-under, but this time it came from the reigning FedExCup Champion Fleetwood (68-64), who will take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the 2025 DP World India Championship. 

Chasing Fleetwood were two Open champions –  the 2019 Open winner Shane Lowry, who followed his first round 64 with a 3-under 69, and the 2023 Open winner Brian Harman, who added a 7-under 65 with eight birdies and one bogey to his first round 68. Lowry and Harman were 11-under and one behind Fleetwood.

Fleetwood said, “I played better than yesterday, I think. 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.

McIlroy, who had the largest gallery following him, had six birdies against three bogeys for the second day running. He was 1-over through 12 after back-to-back bogeys on the 11th and the 12th, but four birdies in the last six holes provided a brilliant finish from the reigning Masters champion. He was at 6-under alongside Ryder Cup teammate Viktor Hovland, who found the fairways with unerring regularity. Hovland shot a bogey-free 5-under after a 71 on the first day to get to 6-under.

Fleetwood added, “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.”

Sharma’s bogey-free 66, brought a big smile on the faces of the entire Team Sharma, which included his coach Jesse Grewal, father Col ML Sharma and sister Vandana.

Sharma, who has been going through a lean patch and a run of missed cuts over the last six months, said, “Yeah, really happy, really happy. 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.

“In golf, it’s always very small points. There’s not much difference. It’s just that my mentality was different today. I was a lot more relaxed. Well-rested. Yesterday even though I got off to a good start, I was slightly edgy.”

He added, “The course is holding up really nicely. It’s not that easy. Obviously the scores have been good. In the morning, maybe slightly easier than the afternoon. But if anything, it will only get tougher. The greens will get harder. I don’t think we will get any rain. So yeah, it will be tougher. The pin positions are going to get, if anything, tougher and more tucked in. The course is going to be hard.”

Fleetwood, started the day four shots behind first-round leader and playing partner Lowry after kicking off his campaign with a 68 on Thursday. He soon closed the gap, firing five birdies on his way to the turn before picking up three more shots coming home to set the clubhouse target at 12 under par.

A charging Keita Nakajima, who has a win in India at the 2024 Hero Indian Open, came rather close to 11-under before a bogey on the Par-4 16th set him back to 10-under.

Ryder Cup hero Fleetwood started his second round from the tenth tee and opened his birdie account from ten feet on the 11th hole. He picked up further shots at the 13th and 15th before reeling off a hat-trick of birdies on the 17th, 18th and 1st.

A 16-footer on the fourth saw Fleetwood take the outright lead on 11 under and he finished with an eight-foot birdie at the ninth to keep a stellar chasing pack at bay.

McIlroy, who had four birdies in his last six holes, had a rough start to the back nine with back-to-back bogeys on the 11th and 12th. He said, “Yeah, obviously not the best way to start the back nine. I felt like I recovered and I scrambled well on the front nine, but didn’t play that good.

Yeah, the two bogeys — I knew I had two par 5s coming up and then I thought if I can birdie those, get myself back in the tournament, and that’s what I did. A good birdie on 13 after two bogeys and I birdied the two par 5s and made a nice putt on 16 also.

Yeah, 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.”

The Indian scores who made the cut:

Rank	Name	R1-R2	AGG	Par
T32	Shubhankar Sharma	74-66	(140)	-4
T41	Anirban Lahiri	70-71	(141)	-3
T41	Shiv Kapur	72-69	(141)	-3
T41	Dhruv Sheoran	68-73	(141)	-3
T58	Abhinav Lohan	70-72	(142)	–