Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma lies tied 53rd as Eddie Pepperell takes lead in British Masters

By PTI

WISHAW: Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma was lying tied 53rd after an action-packed closing with birdies on 15th and 18th besides two bogeys in between in the third round of the Betfred British Masters here.

The only Indian to make the cut among four participants, Sharma carded 1-under 71 in the third round of the tournament hosted by Danny Willett.

Sharma has rounds of 73-71-71 for a total of 1-under 215.

The Indian birdied third and fifth and raised hopes of a good day as he moved up.

A bogey on the ninth was a step backward but after five pars, he finished with two birdies and two bogeys in the last four holes.

SSP Chawrasia, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Gaganjeet Bhullar had missed the cut.

England’s Eddie Pepperell’s bid to win the British Masters for a second time got a boost as he carried a one-stroke lead into the final round.

Pepperell, who won this title in 2018 at Walton Heath, carded a four-under par round of 68 on the Brabazon Course to sign for a 10-under par total.

Pepperell is one stroke ahead of a packed leaderboard which includes six players in a share of second place.

The bunch comprises Italy’s Edoardo Molinari (64), the lowest round of the week and moved to 9-under.

He was joined on that number by compatriot Guido Migliozzi.

Also on nine under are the Scottish duo of Calum Hill and Robert MacIntyre, and South Africa’s Dean Burmester and Adrian Meronk of Poland.

Tournament host Willett is just three strokes behind Pepperell after a third round of 68 which included seven birdies.

For each birdie Willett makes this week, tournament title sponsor Betfred will donate 1,000 pounds directly to Prostate Cancer UK, the 2016 Masters champion’s choice of official charity.

So far, the 33-year-old has raised 16,000 pounds after 16 birdies across his first three rounds.