Lahiri, Sharma make cut at Memorial Tournament
Dublin: Shubhankar Sharma rallied his way from a rough front nine on the back of a rare albatross to make the cut along with compatriot Anirban Lahiri on the second day of the Memorial Golf Tournament.
Shubhankar added an even par 71 to his first round 73 and totalled an even par to finish the halfway stage at tied 55th at Muirfield Village. In the afternoon, Lahiri, who started from the tenth, ran into five boggies in a six-hole stretch but managed to halt the steep slide thereafter to card a four-over 76 and make the cut at one-under 143 and tied 44th, which was a big fall from his first round tied 3rd place. Two-time Major winner, Martin Kaymer birdied all the Par-5s on the way to four-under 68 and shared the lead with Troy Merritt (66) and Kyoung-Hoon Lee (67). They were at 9-under 135. Jordan Spieth had a 70 and was another shot behind.
Tiger Woods (72) was Tied-33 and could have been closer but for his double on 15th. Rory, McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and Justin Thomas missed the cut as Justin Rose (63) moved from T-78 to T-10. Sharma, who smashed a 2-Iron from 250 yards for his albatross was stunned with the perfect shot, which came after he bogeyed the 11th, double bogeyed the 14th and then the 18th to play his first nine in three-over 39. In between he birdied the 15th. At that stage he was three-over for the day and four-over for the tournament and looked in danger of missing the weekend. On the second nine, he first steadied himself with four pars and then landed the albatross on Par-5 fifth to jump to an even par for the day and a 21-foot birdie on sixth brought him to even for the tournament.
He had a birdie chance on each of the last three holes but missed them all. "That was a great feeling to have the ball disappearing for an albatross and it gave me a fresh lease of life in the tournament. I am happy with the finish as I gave myself a lot of chances, though I did not convert them," said Sharma, who had his first albatross in December 2014 at a domestic PGTI event in Kolkata in India. Sharma's albatross was the fifth of the PGA Tour season. Lahiri started from the 10th and bogeyed four in a row from 11th to 14th.
He birdied 15th only to drop a shot again on 16th. He was steadier on second nine with six pars – eight in a row - and then birdied the seventh. He missed an 11-footer on ninth to end at 76 for the day. Woods (72) could have been closer than seven shots behind the leaders but for the Par-5 15th where he strayed into the left rough and then missed a five-footer for bogey. Phil Mickelson started with a triple bogey and ended the back nine with a double bogey and shot 79 to miss the cut.