Fleetwood moves into lead as five Indians make cut

The reigning FedExCup champion Tommy Fleetwood moved into a one-shot lead after shooting an 8-under on a tricky day at the Delhi Golf Course at the DP World India Championship.

Fleetwood (68-64) is closely followed by the 2019 Open winner Shane Lowry and the 2023 Open winner Brian Harman. Lowry followed his first round 64 with a 3-under 69, while Harman added a 7-under 65 with eight birdies and one bogey to his first round 68.

“I played better than yesterday, I think. I wasn’t happy with how I hit it towards the end yesterday. I hit some balls afterwards and I felt like today the swing was in a better place," Fleetwood said.

“I hit it in the fairway a lot today and from there just gave myself the chance to hit some nice irons in and putted well for the second day in a row. It is easy to talk about how many things you did well when you shot eight-under, but just a really good round of golf," he added.

Five-time Major winner Rory McIlroy, who was greeted by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar after the completion of his second round, finished with four birdies in the last six holes to be tied-17th with 6-under. He is six shots behind his friend Fleetwood. McIlroy’s Ryder Cup teammate Viktor Hovland shot a bogey-free 5-under after a 71 on the first day to get to 6-under.

Meanwhile, Shubhankar Sharma led a group of five Indians into the weekend rounds of the inaugural $4 million championship.

Sharma picked three birdies to be tied-32nd, while Dhruv Sheoran (68-73), Shiv Kapur (72-69) and Anirban Lahiri (70-71) were 3-under for 36 holes and tied-41st. Abhinav Lohan (70-72), who is in tied-58th place, has also made the cut.

“Really happy. Yesterday I got off to a good start but made some bad mistakes coming in, but I slept well last night and I am feeling a lot fresher. Hit it well, putting was good, mind was clear, and in the end, I am really happy," Sharma said of his bogey-free round.

“In golf, it’s always very small points. There is not much difference. It is just that my mentality was different today. I was a lot more relaxed. Well rested. Yesterday even though I got off to a good start, I was slightly edgy," he added.

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