Shubhankar Sharma continued to ride the headline-making wave as he grabbed a two-shot lead going into the final round of the WGC-Mexico, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Sharma’s joy was not matched by Louis Oosthuizen, who shot a five-over-par 76 to drop dramatically out of the chasing pack who are two behind the Indian star at the Club de Golf Chapultepec.
The chasing pack includes tour veteran and the oldest player in the field Phil Mickelson (62), Masters winner Sergio Garcia (69) and European Tour stars Tyrrell Hatton (64) and Rafael Cabrera Bello (69).
There are four players who are one behind that group which most notably includes the world’s best player Dustin Johnson (68) and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Xander Schauffele (70).
At -9, is reigning FedExCup and PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas, who fired a third round 62 including an eagle at the 1st, eight birdies and a single bogey to set the new course record which was previously held by Jordan Spieth.
And while all the talk centres around the ‘unknown’ Sharma and the illustrious chasing pack, few will zero in on Oosthuizen, who dropped 27 places on Saturday.
It didn’t start like that for the likable South African. In fact, quite the opposite. Oosthuizen duly birdied the 1st and was all pars until he found himself in the trees off the left of the fifth fairway. Staring down a drop, he punched out from 165 yards to 6 feet and rolled in the putt.
Crisis averted.
But that rescue act would be his last as he made double on the next and triple on the short par-three hole that followed. His challenge had evaporated as did his chances of a decent payday when three further bogeys followed on the back nine before he closed with a birdie for a 76 and the worst round of the day.
Someone who couldn’t relate was Sharma, even if Phil Mickelson didn’t know who he was when the Joburg Open winner went over to say hi on the practice putting green prior to round three.
‘He thought we were media and he said, “Not right now, after the round,”‘ Sharma said with a laugh.
‘Then he just realized and said, “So sorry, I thought you were media,” and he said “hi”, I said “hi”. Then he made a few putts and he came back to me and said, “Have a good day.” It was nice.’
Nice got nicer when Sharma settled into his round with a 7 footer for birdie on the 1st. His lead stretched to four with further gains on the 3rd and 6th holes before he gave the field some hope with a drop on the 8th and went out in -2.
Two pars and two bogeys on the back nine saw him sign for a 69 – not bad for his first round as 36-hole leader at this level – and heads into Sunday with a two-shot cushion in one of the strongest fields in golf.
And what did he make of it all?
‘For me, it’s actually almost like watching TV,’ he said.
You can almost guarantee there will be more TV viewers tuning in around the world to see how Sharma’s quest for the biggest win of his career plays out.
