Sharma lies tied seventh in Italian Open golf

Rome, Jun 29 (PTI) Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma fired identical 68s in his first two rounds to be tied seventh in the Italian Open on the DP World Tour here.

The Indian star, who is headed to the Olympic Games in August, had five birdies against two bogeys in the second round.

In the first round, he had three birdies and an eagle against two bogeys. Sharma has had a modest season with a best of T-7 in Singapore Classic as his best and was T-16 at Hero Dubai Desert Classic, one of the marquee events on the Tour.

The other Indian in the field Om Prakash Chouhan missed the cut with rounds of 72-71.

Gunner Wiebe took a one-stroke lead into the weekend after carding a second round 69 at Adriatic Golf Club.

The American started the second day in a three-way tie for the lead on seven under after his first round of 64 but had to remain patient after a level par front nine, with a bogey on the 17th, cancelling out a gain on the 15th.

He made his second birdie of the day on the first hole, his tenth, and then birdied the par four fifth to move to two under on the day.

The 35-year-old parred his final four holes to sign for a nine under par total after 36 holes, one stroke ahead of Germany’s Jannik de Bruyn, who got a last minute spot into the event.

One stroke further back on seven under are last week’s KLM Open runner-up Marcus Kinhult, Denmark’s Sebastian Friedrichsen, Adrian Otaegui of Spain and South African Brandon Stone.

Canada’s Aaron Cockerill and Sharma share the seventh spot on six under, while 14 golfers are tied for ninth place on five under par, including home favourites Edoardo Molinari and Andrea Pavan.