Hoylake (UK), Jul 21 (PTI) Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma, who has put off all celebrations of his 27th birthday till the end of the week, still could not stop smiling after a gritty show as he rose to tied third after second round at the Open here on Friday.

His second round even par 71 saw him rise to Tied-third from overnight Tied-seventh. He is now 3-under after 36 holes, but seven shots behind the leader Brian Harman, whose 65 looked like an out-of-the-world round.

Also Read | ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2023: India A Beat Bangladesh A, to Face Pakistan A in Final.

Harman (67-65) reached 10-under and seemed a runaway leader, as the next best completed totals belonged to Min Woo Lee (71-68), who started an hour before Harman, and Sharma (68-71) who teed off more than two hours after the American.

Sharma, who confessed that one of his ambitions was to see his name on the iconic Open leaderboard, had three birdies against one bogey and a double bogey on Par-3 17th.

Also Read | Will Lionel Messi Play Tonight in Inter Miami vs Cruz Azul Leagues Cup 2023 Match? Here's the Possibility of Star Footballer Featuring in the Starting XI.

His father, ML Sharma, who is here with the full family including Sharma's sister and mother, said that he had taken a picture, which his son will treasure for the rest of his life.

On a course which every player, including Rory McIlroy, has described as tough and where wind has played a big role so far, Sharma stayed steady. He birdied the seventh, bogeyed the eighth, birdied 15th and dropped a double on 17th, where he overshot the green and had a bad lie.

He quickly shrugged off the disappointment and birdied the 18th, always a tough one.

“It wasn't easy. It was up and down. Downwind the ball was being affected almost 20, 25 yards, and into the wind, the same," Sharma said.

“Very happy. In fact, I was seeing the scores, and when I teed off the first two, three holes, I saw the wind was definitely a lot more than what we played yesterday. I told myself a level par round would not be a bad round today.”

On his play on the second day, he added, “Yes, hitting was a lot better yesterday. I'd say today was okay. It wasn't bad. But it wasn't the best, either.

"Iron play could have been slightly sharper. Yes, in the middle of the round a few of the holes were and shots weren't exactly perfect, and with how much the wind is, they were just falling off.”

Leader Harman played in slightly better conditions in the morning and shot 6-under with four birdies in a row from second and then closed with an eagle for 6-under 65.

Rory McIlroy (71-70) was 1-under for 36 holes and T-13 after improving 19 places from his first round.

(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)