Shubhankar Sharma produces a timely 67 to fly into the weekend

On Thursday, Shubhankar Sharma shot an albatross on the 17th hole as he wiped out a three shot deficit in one good swing with his trusted 2-iron. But a double bogey on the final hole pushed him back into an inconvenient corner. Needing a good second round, Shubhankar produced one of his more rewarding rounds to force his way into the weekend, for only the second time in his last seven events.

Shubhankar flew out in 32 strokes and then added two more birdies as he came home to a four-under 67, soaring 53 spots on the leaderboard. At 2-under 140, the Indian is a dozen strokes adrift from Julien Guerrier, the leader.

But the Frenchman is in his own orbit, after adding a 66 to his first round 62 for a halfway total of 14-under 128. He is five strokes ahead of second placed Sihwan Kim, who also made a 66.

“I’m feeling great. It looks easy but it’s not,” reminded Guerrier.

“After shooting nine under it’s always tough to make a good score so I’m really happy to have played good.

“I just try to hit it on the fairways and hit the greens after. I’m feeling good on the greens so I think it’s a bit easier when you are confident around the green.

“In Valderrama it was really tough so that was more about fighting spirit. After the injury you try to get a good level and find your mark on your game under pressure so it’s perfect for me to play on the weekend.”

Nine men are bunched up in third place at 7-under through two rounds at the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course in Vilamoura. Antoine Rozner, Wilco Nienaber, Scott Vincent, Adrien Saddier, Adrian Meronk, Martin Simonsen, Matthew Jordan, Marcus Armitage and first round leader Liam Johnston rounded off the top ten going into the weekend.

Shubhankar began his second round on a bright note, pouring two birdies in the first four holes. Two more birdies on the 8th and 10th took him to four under for the day. A bogey at the par-4 15th hole proved irrelevant as he erased the damage with a birdie at the par-5 17th to secure a timely 67.