Sharma marks 28th birthday with T-19 finish, Schauffele wins a second Major

ROYAL TROON: India’s Olympic-bound golfer Shubhankar Sharma gave himself a good send-off for Paris Games on his 28th birthday as he carded a one-over 72 in the final round to record a creditable T-19 finish at the Royal Troon in the 152nd Open here on Sunday.

With the first two rounds of 76-71, Sharma made the cut on the line after surviving a tense three-hour wait.

The Indian followed that up with a superb four-under 67 on the third day to rise to T-15 and on the final day, despite some missed putts and a three-putt, he fought his way to a 72 to finish inside the top 20 in demanding conditions.

Meanwhile, Xander Scahuffele, the reigning PGA Champion, grabbed a three-shot lead with three holes and finished the job with a two-shot win over Justin Rose (67), who finished as runner-up after coming into the event as a qualifier.

The reigning Olympic champion became the first player since Brooks Koepka to win two Majors in the same year. Koepka won the US Open and the PGA Championships in 2018.

The conditions were tough but Sharma showed great grit and hung in for a final round of 1-over 72 to finish 3-over 287 for the week and inside Top-20 for the second straight year.

Sharma had two birdies and dropped three bogeys. One of the bogeys was on the ninth, where he missed a par putt inside eighth feet.

After a T-8 last year, a T-19 finish may seem a bit of disappointment, but he took the positives from the week, as he came back from the cutline to inside Top-20.

"I am proud of the fightback, and it will hold me in good stead for my first Olympic Games next month in Paris," said Sharma.

"There will be some celebrations with my family, the entire team and some friends here, but a lot of the season is still left, and I have some big events leading to the DP World finale."

Sharma was overall pleased with his show.

"It was a good week. Second and third days I played brilliantly, so no complaints. Today could have been slightly better. Overall I played really well. I'm quite proud of myself," he said.

"It's probably the toughest Open that I've played out of the four that I've played. Hung in there, made some great putts. Quite happy overall.

"I've always been very fond of the Open ever since I was a kid. Yeah, just brings the best out of me, and I kind of bookmark it at the start of the year that this is a tournament I want to play and I want to play well in. Yeah, it was quite special."

Talking about the conditions of the final day, Sharma said, "Yes, it was still demanding. Yesterday was probably the easiest day, but the first two days were very tough. Today also when we started it was quite windy so not very easy.

"Towards the end there were birdie chances. You still had to hit good shots. Pin positions were tough. It was gettable.

"I was hoping I'd get off to a slightly better start, one of those putts falling in the first few holes, and that three-putt on 7 not happening. Probably could have been slightly better. But it's fine. I still played well. Lots of positives."

At the top, Schauffele played incredibly steady golf and showed no nerves. He stayed with the pack till six-under with six holes to go and then simply ran away. He birdied three times between the 13th and 16th and closed with three steady pars.

He finished at nine-under with a brilliant final round of six-under 65 to add a second Major to the first he won at PGA earlier this year.

Rose, who emerged as a star of the future with a fourth place as an 18-year-old amateur in 1998 Open, took his second runner-up place at the Open. He was Tied second in 2018 and this week, he came into the Open after making his way through Qualifier.

He finished with a birdie on 18th for a round of 67 and was second alongside Billy Horschel, who birdied the 72nd hole to join him.

South African Thriston Lawrence (68), who has never finished better than T-42 in a Major, had four birdies in the first nine holes to become a front runner. He dropped his first and only bogey of the day on the 12th and fell back from lead to second as Schauffele roared into action. Lawrence carded 68.

Later Rose, and then Horschel (68), overtook him and the long-hitting Lawrence finished a career-best fourth at 6-under 278.