Disappointing starts for Shubhankar, Chawrasia at Belfry

Disappointing starts for Shubhankar, Chawrasia at Belfry
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Wishaw, UK: Indian golfers Shubhankar Sharma and SSP Chawrasia endured a disappointing opening round at the Betfred British Masters and run the risk of missing the cut.

Sharma carded 1-over 73 and Chawrasia, a four-time winner on the Tour, shot a 2-over 74 at the tournament hosted by Danny Willett.

Sharma, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, is T-76 and Chawrasia is T-96. Both will need a solid second round to make the cut.

The 25-year old Sharma started with three bogeys and later had two birdies for 73, while Chawrasia, who started on the 10th, closed with a double bogey on eighth and a bogey on ninth to finish with a 74.

Ryan Fox and Thorbjorn Olesen carded six under par rounds of 66 to share the first round lead.

Olesen, who represented Team Europe at the 2018 Ryder Cup, set the clubhouse target after a blemish-free round on the Brabazon Course with Fox matching him late in the day to join him at the top of the leaderboard.

The pair sit one stroke ahead of Germany's Hurly Long, Scotsman Richie Ramsay and Ashun Wu of China, who each carded five under par rounds of 67.

Sharma, who began 2022 with a second place finish at the Rolex Series Abu Dhabi HSBC event, has had just one more Top-15 finish in Kenya since then.

As for Chawrasia, he has missed six cuts in nine starts and only one of the three cuts has been outside India.

Rasmus Hojgaard, who won the ISPS HANDA UK Championship at The Belfry in 2020, is one stroke further back alongside Italy's Edoardo Molinari and South African duo Brandon Stone and Justin Walters.

Tournament host Danny Willett carded a one over par round of 73, but raised 4,000 punds for the tournament's official charity Prostate Cancer UK.

Title sponsors Betfred have pledged to donate 1,000 pounds for every birdie and 2,000 pounds for every eagle made by the 2016 Masters Tournament champion, with Willett carding four birdies on day one.