Wallace in frame but Sharma has eye on home win
Matt Wallace produced a brilliant battling round of 70 to share the lead with the in-form Shubhankar Sharma heading into the final round of the Hero Indian Open.
On a day when just nine players fired underpar rounds in New Delhi, Wallace’s two-under effort moved him to seven under and a position to continue his rapid rise through the ranks.
The Englishman won six times on the Alps Tour in 2016 – including five in as many starts – to earn a place on the Challenge Tour and wasted no time in winning the Open de Portugal to gain his European Tour card.
“I’m very happy,” he said. “There are some brilliant players up there.
“You know there is going to be a charge tomorrow and someone is going to play well. I just have to go out there and try to execute like I did today and see how it goes.
“Every hole is a test. Every hole is a double bogey waiting to happen. I just took every hole as it came and played it as well as possible. That eagle on nine was probably the highlight of my week – and year – so far.”
After three birdies and a bogey in his first five holes, he led for the first time when he drove the ninth green with an iron and holed a tricky double-breaker for an eagle.
He made three bogeys to a single birdie on the way home but that was good enough to leave him alongside Sharma in top spot.
The Indian has already won twice this season to lead the Race to Dubai and held the 54-hole lead at last week’s WGC-Mexico Championship as his stock continues to rise.
The 21-year-old had made four birdies and three bogeys before dropping two shots on the 17th, but a birdie on the last put him back in the lead.
“I’m just looking forward to playing out there again,” he said. “I just want to have fun.
“It’s the second week in the row I’m in the leading group. I’m going to draw from my experiences last week. I know it’s going to be a battle out there tomorrow and I’ll be ready for it.
Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher produced the lowest round of the day with a 67 to sit a shot off the lead as the 2014 Ryder Cup winner looks for a first individual victory in four years.
England’s Andrew Johnston was at five under alongside Argentinian Emiliano Grillo – who entered the day with a four-shot lead but battled to a 78 – and Austrian Matthias Schwab.
A last-hole bogey failed to take the gloss off a superb performance from Tiger Woods as the former world No 1 continued to impress on the latest leg of his comeback in the Valspar Championship.
Woods showed flashes of his brilliant best in an opening 70 in what is just his fourth PGA Tour event since undergoing spinal fusion surgery – his fourth back operation in three years – last April.
And the 14-time Major winner surged to the top of the leaderboard for the first time since August 2015 before ending the second round in a tie for second, two shots behind leader Corey Conners.
The 26-year-old Canadian, who started the week as an alternate for the tournament, followed up his opening 67 with a 69, with a double bogey on the fourth – his 13th – his only blemish.
Rory McIlroy will not be back for the weekend, though. The 28-year-old missed the cut after a second-round 73 left him five-over-par.
With under a month until his latest bid to complete the career grand slam by winning the Masters, McIlroy missed a cut for the second time in five PGA Tour events this year.
England’s Florentyna Parker produced her best round of the week to finish fifth as the Investec SA Women’s Open in Cape Town saw a home winner.
Parker followed two rounds of 72 with a closing two-under-par 70 yesterday to nudge up one place on the final leaderboard, but South African Ashleigh Buhai produced irresistible golf to land the title.
Buhai’s blemish-free five-under 67 took her to nine-under-par for the 54-hole event. That was enough to overtake Germany’s overnight leader Karolin Lampert, whose 70 saw her finish runner-up on seven under at Westlake Golf Club.
Buhai’s win gave the 28-year-old her first title since the 2011 Portugal Open, and her third in all, together with the £19,400 top prize.