Doha, Mar 24 (PTI) Shubhankar Sharma, who has already come agonisingly close to a DP World Tour win, shot a flawless six-under 66 to once again seat in a tied second spot after the first round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters here on Thursday.

Sharma, starting from the 10th, had five birdies on the back nine of the Doha Golf Club, and turned in 5-under 31. On the front side for his second nine, Sharma parred the first seven and then birdied the Par-3 eighth to finish at 6-under 66.

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He was two behind the leader Pablo Larrazabal (64), who had nine birdies against one bogey.

"I played really well. It was quite an early tee off, I don't remember the last time I teed off at 6:55am so I just tried to stay awake on the back nine, which was my front nine, but I made two quick birdies straight out of the gate and then made another three birdies in the next seven holes to be five under after nine," Sharma said.

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"The front nine here is tougher, I think, compared to the back nine and it got slightly windier so I made a few good par putts and it was good to make that birdie on the eighth and finish with a 66."

Sharma has been playing well since the middle of last year when he was T-16 at the Hero Open. He was then T-9 at Cazoo, T-12 at Italian Open, T-9 at BMW PGA, T-3 at Open de Espana, T-2 at Abu Dhabi and T-13 in Kenya.

"I have been playing since around July last year and things are coming together," he said.

On his excellent showing this season as he also finished second at the Abu Dhabi Championship, Sharma said, "It's more mental, I think. Technically, I've not really changed anything but I've just become more process-oriented.

"I've also learned to let go of bad rounds and bad shots. I've been playing well for some time now, it started last season, at the end of last season where I had some good finishes and I've managed to carry it forward into this season as well." PTI

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)