CRANS MONTANA (SWITZERLAND): Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma endured a wild ride in the opening round of the European Masters as he carded a 2-under 68 that placed him Tied-33rd here.
Sharma had a colourful scorecard with four birdies and an eagle against two bogeys and a double bogey, which have started appearing more often on his scorecard this season.
Sharma, who seems to be getting back into his rhythm with decent finishes at Hero Open (T-16) and Cazoo Classic (T-9) in his last two starts, had a fair front nine with a birdie on the second hole which was neutralised by a bogey on fourth.
He then landed an eagle with his second shot on Par-4 seventh and birdied Par-5 ninth to turn in a solid 3-under 32. On the back nine, he double bogeyed Par-4 12th, birdied par-3 13th and again bogeyed Par-5 16th.
A bogey on Par-3 16th salvaged the stretch as he finished in 2-under 68. SSP Chawrasia also had an eagle 2 on Par-4 seventh and he had two other birdies against five bogeys for his 1-over 71, which left him in T-96th place.
James Morrison climbed to the top with an impressive 10-under par round of 60, setting both a new course record and his lowest round. The Englishman took full advantage of the glorious morning conditions at Golf Club Crans-sur-Sierre to open up a three shot lead after round one.
He got to 7-under par through 15 holes on the par 70 Severiano Ballesteros Course.
He duly recorded back-to-back birdies on the seventh and eighth — his 16th and 17th — but left himself too much to do with an eagle chip on the last, and settled for his ninth birdie of the day, alongside an eagle and a solitary bogey.
Fellow Englishman Marcus Armitage and Robin Sciot-Siegrist of France recorded seven under par rounds of 63.
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