Shubhankar, Ahlawat best Indians at tied 13th in Hero Indian Open

Shubhankar Sharma produced his best round of the week with a 4-under 68 and finished tied for 13th place alongside Veer Ahlawat (73) to total 4-under 284 at the US$2 million Hero Indian Open 2023. The duo finished as the best Indians at the event played at the DLF Golf and Country Club.

As two Germans battled it out to become the first from their country to win the Hero Indian Open, Marcel Siem (68, 14-under 274) won by one-shot over Yannik Paul (70, 13-under).

Angad Cheema saw a top-10 finish slip away with a horrendous quadruple bogey on the 18th hole that sent him plunging to tied 20th on the leaderboard.

Local golfer Honey Baisoya shared the 20th place with Cheema on two-under 286 and Yuvraj Singh Sandhu made up for a difficult third round of five over par 77 with a two under 70 that lifted him into a share of 25th place.

Though it was hard to overcome two consecutive over-par rounds on days two and three, Shubhankar Sharma was satisfied with his finish. “Today was really good, I played quite well and hung in there,” he said later.  

“Played well on the back nine, which I’m quite happy about. Didn’t really have my best on the back nine all week, but today was quite nice. So quite happy and it’s a good way to finish the event. Today, I just got off to a good start, I made birdie on the first which was good and after that something clicked which I was really happy about.  

“Even though I made a mistake on the eighth, I was still able to stay within my zone and I’m particularly happy with the way I played the back nine, it was really solid. Wasn’t off position at all and hit it really solid of the tee, so that I’m happy about.”

Sharma was putting for a birdie on 18 that would have put him in the top ten, but the ball stopped on the edge of the hole. “The pin position was really tough and my second shot actually went slightly over the green and then it was a tough two putts there.  

“I actually hit a good first putt, but the green was really slow so it got to the pin. And even the second putt was nice but just unlucky as it turned on the face. I made a lot of putts today, so it was a good day overall,” he added.