Shubhankar Sharma makes the weekend; Horsfield leads by one

A flurry of birdies at the bend proved just the medicine needed to keep Shubhankar Sharma afloat in the Celtic Classic. The 24-year-old shot one-under 70 in the second round. Sam Horsfield shot a day best 64 for a 36-hole total of 11-under 131. Thomas Pieters was in second place, just one off the pace. Callum Shinkwin, Andrew Johnston and Thomas Detry were lying T3 at 9-under. Shubhankar will start Saturday at 1-under.

Horsfield has momentum on his bag after his recent victory in the Hero Open. He was three strokes ahead of Shinkwin and Johnston with only two shots left to play. But a triple bogey six on the par-3 17th set the Englishman back. He regained his composure quickly though, acing his approach to within 12 feet of the flag for a brilliant eagle to erase some of the late damage.

“I’m very happy to be fair. I had a bit of a bad round last week on the Sunday and my game just went wrong. I had a couple of days off to recover and on Wednesday I was just working hard on my game,” explained Horsfield. “I did everything that I needed to do correctly, everything went right and I didn’t really make any poor swings either. 

“It was obviously very hot over the last couple of weeks and maybe I got a bit fatigued with the weather. Apart from that, I didn’t feel too bad. A couple of days off back at home with the wife and baby and I felt great.”

“It wasn’t that much different. I think there was a storm during the night but it wasn’t that soft. The greens were excellent and obviously no one had touched them, they were as smooth as you like. It’s a great golf course to be fair. It’s the first time I’ve played it this week and I’m very impressed.”

Playing for the first time in five months, Thomas Pieters, the newly turned father continued to impress with his smooth transition back into the flowing stream of golf. Despite finding the water on the 18th, Pieters managed to salvage a bogey and finish the day just one back from the leader.

“I was going along nicely on the front nine but just couldn’t make a putt. I made some better shots on the back nine, a couple of mishaps on the 18^th – it came out really dead, but that’s the price you pay if you hit it in the rough – all in all, I’m pretty happy. I made some good putts and hit some good golf shots so I’m glad,” Pieters said.

“I thought the biggest challenge would be scoring the golf ball, which I’ve done a really good job. But getting numbers with my caddie has been difficult at times. We played Tuesday and Wednesday in really hot weather and the ball was flying a lot. Today, a bit damp, there could be ten yards difference. It’s a bit of searching, but we’re getting there.

“I missed playing golf, but I enjoyed my time at home,” he added.

“I don’t know Sam, but he won two weeks ago. So he’s a good player. I’m looking forward to it – I just want to play golf at this point. Bring on tomorrow.”

Round Two Scores

131 S HORSFIELD (ENG) 67 64,
132 T PIETERS (BEL) 64 68,
133 A JOHNSTON (ENG) 67 66, T DETRY (BEL) 67 66, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 65,
134 J MCLEOD (AUS) 65 69, M JORDAN (ENG) 68 66, S CROCKER (USA) 68 66, J CALDWELL (NIR) 68 66,
135 N ELVIRA (ESP) 66 69, S SODERBERG (SWE) 66 69, C SYME (SCO) 68 67, R ENOCH (WAL) 69 66,
136 S KIM (USA) 66 70, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 66 70, W BESSELING (NED) 67 69, J CATLIN (USA) 68 68, J SMITH (ENG) 68 68, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 67,
137 A MERONK (POL) 66 71, L GAGLI (ITA) 67 70, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 67 70, A RAI (ENG) 67 70, J MORRISON (ENG) 67 70, W NIENABER (RSA) 70 67,
138 M WARREN (SCO) 66 72, E MOLINARI (ITA) 66 72, J SJ?HOLM (SWE) 68 70, F LAPORTA (ITA) 69 69, O LENGDEN (SWE) 69 69, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 69 69, S VINCENT (ZIM) 69 69, C HILL (SCO) 70 68, C SHARVIN (NIR) 71 67,
139 S BROWN (ENG) 67 72, M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 68 71, D HORSEY (ENG) 68 71, M SIMONSEN (DEN) 68 71, M KIEFFER (GER) 69 70, J SENIOR (ENG) 69 70, S HEISELE (GER) 69 70, G GREEN (MAS) 70 69, J WALTERS (RSA) 70 69, A COCKERILL (CAN) 70 69, D PERRIER (FRA) 70 69, D BURMESTER (RSA) 71 68, S V?LIM?KI (FIN) 71 68, L DE JAGER (RSA) 71 68, D WHITNELL (ENG) 72 67,
140 T TREE (ENG) 65 75, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 67 73, B STOW (ENG) 68 72, J HARDING (RSA) 69 71, R FOX (NZL) 69 71, M LEE (AUS) 69 71, J DONALDSON (WAL) 70 70, S KJELDSEN (DEN) 70 70, R MCGOWAN (ENG) 70 70, N BERTASIO (ITA) 71 69, R FISHER (ENG) 72 68, A CHESTERS (ENG) 72 68, G FORREST (SCO) 72 68, O FARR (WAL) 73 67, S HEND (AUS) 75 65,
141 P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 70 71, J KRUYSWIJK (RSA) 70 71, C PIGEM (ESP) 70 71, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 70 71, B RITTHAMMER (GER) 71 70, T OLESEN (DEN) 71 70, S SHARMA (IND) 71 70, A BJ?RK (SWE) 71 70, J SURI (USA) 72 69, R KARLBERG (SWE) 73 68, A ARNAUS (ESP) 73 68,