26-year-old Shubhankar Sharma scored his first ever tournament hole in one in Italy by holing his tee shot with a 5-iron on the 217-yard par-3, 17th hole during the morning of Rd 2 at the Italian Open and he celebrated by distributing beers to all the caddies after the round.
Eventually Sharma made his second consecutive cut on the DP World Tour shooting 73-67-73-70 (1-under 283) to finish 26th in the US$ 3.25 mn event being played at the 2023 Ryder Cup venue, Marco Simone GC in Rome.
HOLE IN ONE @shubhankargolf aces the 17th ⛳#DS80OpendItalia
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 5, 2023
There were three aces in all during the week, including one by Thristan Lawrence on the 226 yard par-3 7th that earned him a DS 4 car. That was also the only one of the three to be captured on film.
While Sharma has yet to find his form this season, he has nevertheless qualified for The Open championship to be held in July by finishing in the top 30 in the 2022 European Tour rankings.
Meanwhile, the other Indian with full playing rights on the European Tour this year, Manu Gandas of Gurgaon, shot 71-80 to miss the cut by six-strokes. Manu has yet to find his comfort zone in his first ever year playing in Europe, having been confined to the PGTI for the past decade.
The tour moves to Belgium next for the US$ 2mn Soudel Open from May 11-14.
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