Sun City (South Africa), Nov 13 (Golf News) Shubhankar Sharma of India put himself in contention with a round of 3-under 69 that took him to 6-under for three rounds and placed him tied seventh at the Nedbank Golf Challenge here.
Sharma, who after his runner-up finish in Abu Dhabi at the start of the year, had struggled seems to have found form in South Africa, where he won one of his two European Tour titles.
Starting from 10th, Sharma opened with an eagle and birdie followed by two bogeys and then two birdies as he had no pars in his first six holes. A par on seventh was followed by a birdie on eighth as he turned in 4-under, but bogeys on first and eighth pulled him back.
He closed with a birdie on ninth, his final hole for the day to be tied seventh.
Thomas Detry and Rasmus Højgaard shared a one-shot lead on a day when the 66-player field faced an early start to complete round two after bad weather hit Sun City on second day.
Detry produced a blistering start and finish to his third round, signing for a five-under-par 67. That took the Belgian – who is chasing a maiden DP World Tour title – to nine under for the week, where he was joined by Dane Højgaard after his third successive 69.
Tommy Fleetwood with three 70s was six-under and looked set to make a final day challenge ahead of the DP World Tour Championship next month.
Detry started his third round at the 10th and birdied his opening two holes before picking up another shot at the 14th. Two bogies and another gain followed in his next 10 holes before he reeled off three birdies to finish.
Three-time DP World Tour winner Højgaard also made a quick start with a birdie at the second but, after dropping shots at the fourth and eighth, his round kicked into life at the ninth when he rolled in an eagle putt from 14 feet, adding two further birdies on the back nine to join Detry at the summit.
South Africans Thriston Lawrence and Branden Grace were at eight under par, while European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald and another home favourite in Christiaan Bezuidenhout were two shots further back.
Defending champion Fleetwood and DP World Rankings number two Ryan Fox were at six-under alongside Sharma.
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News Source : PTI
