Playing his best golf at the oldest of all Majors and in typically English conditions, India’s Shubhankar Shama held his own in the company of the best golfers in the world, carding an even par 71 to share the fourth place at the Open. The Indian, who turned 27 on Friday, but put off all celebrations till the end of the week to focus on the final Major of 2023, holed a birdie on the 18th to take his total to three-under after the third round.
The best Indian finish at a Major is Tied-fifth by Anirban Lahiri at the 2015 PGA Championship. The only other time an Indian finished in Top-10 in a Major was Jeev Milkha Singh at the 2008 PGA Championship, when he was T-9.
His father, Col ML Sharma, who is here with the full family – including Sharma’s sister and mother, said that he had taken a picture, which his son will treasure for the rest of his life.
In fact, I was seeing the scores, and when I teed off the first two, three holes, I saw the wind was definitely a lot more than what we played yesterday. I told myself a level par round would not be a bad round today. On a course, which every player including Rory McIlroy has described as tough and where wind has played a big role so far, Sharma stayed steady. “It wasn’t easy. It was up and down. “Very happy. And what about his birthday celebrations? “Nothing. Mom will cook. Mom will make rajma and make she’ll take cakes. A few of my friends are here, as well, so we’ll just chitchat. They came together, so it’ll be good fun.
Downwind the ball was being affected almost 20, 25 yards, and into the wind, the same,” Sharma said. The 36-year-old Harman, who played his first Open at this very venue in 2014, said, “Yeah, I’ve had a hot putter the last couple days so try to ride it through the weekend. 36 holes to go, so try to rest up and get ready.
Yet Sharma said he was happy with the day. There’s some work to be done, but then after that we’ll chill,” Sharma said. Harman said he was playing well, but didn’t want to get ahead.
