Shubhankar hangs in trying to make cut at BMW PGA Championships

Wentworth (UK), Sep 16 (PTI) Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma was hanging at Tied-61 with one more hole left in the second round of the BMW PGA Championship when play was suspended overnight due to darkness.

Sharma, who needed a strong second round after his first round of 1-over 73, was 3-under through 17 holes to get to a total of 2-under and was right on the cut line when play ended early on Friday.
He will return to complete the second round on Saturday.

Sharma, who was Tied-8th at the Open and then T-7 at the Irish Open, is 49th on the Race to Dubai standings and needs to be inside the Top-50 to qualify for the DP World Tour Championships. He finished 29th on the Tour last season.

Meanwhile, the much-talked Ryder Cup captain’s pick Ludvig Aberg and Sebastian Soderberg shared a one-shot lead after day two. The Swedish duo produced a pair of big finishes in the twilight at Wentworth Club.

Early starters Thomas Detry, Masahiro Kawamura and Adrian Meronk set the target at 9-under in the fourth Rolex Series event of the season and it looked like they would lead the way into the weekend but the Swedish duo had other ideas.
Soderberg made a hat-trick of gains from the 10th but the 32-year-old was still two shots off the lead before he birdied the 17th and eagled the last to card a 64 and get to 10-under.

In fading light, Aberg birdied his last three holes to sign for a 66 and join his countryman at the summit.
Home hero Tommy Fleetwood then completed a birdie-birdie finish to card a 66 of his own and joined the group a shot off the lead.

Austria’s Sepp Straka and Aaron Rai are in the clubhouse at 8-under alongside Dane Marcus Helligkilde, who had four holes left to play and will be one of 24 players returning to complete their rounds on Saturday after an earlier fog delay.

Aberg claimed his maiden DP World Tour victory in Switzerland two weeks ago, and his place in the European Ryder Cup Team for the upcoming contest in Rome is another step in a remarkable rise for the former college superstar and Amateur World Number One who only turned professional in June. PTI CORR