Sharma, Bhullar shoot par at British Masters

Shubhankar Sharma found a late birdie to shoot an even par 72 as he, Gaganjeet Bhullar and SSP Chawrasia literally ran into rough weather on the opening day of the British Masters, here. On a cold day, Sharma holed a late birdie on 17th but then missed a birdie putt on 18th. Still he gave himself a chance to get into weekend action. Bhullar did the same with three birdies and three bogeys though Chawrasia shot 76 on Thursday.

"I gave away some soft shots, though I did not hit bad. It was cold, but the weather during Pro-Am was colder. That last putt, if it had fallen, would have been nice, but I think I can pull back some tomorrow," said Sharma, who is making debut at the British Masters. Sharma opened with five pars followed by a birdie before dropping two shots in three holes on seventh and ninth to turn in one-over. He had one bogey and two birdies on back nine.

Bhullar had three birdies on second, third and seventh, but bogeys on first, eighth, 12th and 13th pegged him to one-over before a birdie on 15th helped him return to even. Chawrasia, playing in the first group of a cold, windy and wet day, wore three layers and had an umbrella open for 16 holes. His sole birdie was on the second, the 11th of the course, and he gave away five bogeys in the next seven. He parred his second nine but ended at 76.

Matthew Jordan, the 23-year-old invitee of England, shot a stunning bogey-free 63 to open up a two-shot lead over Marcus Kinhult and Matt Wallace. Tournament host, Tommy Fleetwood, who won the pre-event Hero Challenge, also got off to a fine start with a 68, but was still five behind young Jordan, who is a member of nearby Links course, Royal Hoylake. Fleetwood was one of the 10 players Tied-10th at 68.

Jordan, who had his first Top-10 finish as a pro two weeks ago in Turkey in the Challenge, has played well at Links courses like the Lytham and St Andrews, where he has amateur wins. Jordan started birdie-birdie and had five in first eight and then there were more on 10th, 11th, 13th and 15th, at which point he was nine-under with three to go. Just as a 60 appeared on the horizon birdies dried up. Fleetwood having a busy week played and won the Hero Challenge and then launched his Academy. Next week he is also due to play the PGA at Bethpage as he searches for his maiden Major. On Thursday, he had an eagle on second, his 11th He had three other birdies and one bogey on sixth.

Between Jordan and Fleetwood there was a bunch of players. Swede Kinhult, another good Links-playing youngster, shot 65 as did Wallace in the evening wave. Four players including the battle-scarred 46-year-old veteran Lee Westwood were at six-under each. The other thee were Richie Ramsay, Thomas Detry and Robert Karlsson. Jack Singh Brar and Sean Crocker shot 67 each.

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