Shubhankar misses cut as Robert rocks Scottish Open

Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma's maiden appearance at the Scottish Open ended in agony as he missed the cut after failing to hole a lot of putts at the Gullane Golf Club, here.

It was a day when the Gullane course record was broken twice. First by Scotland's own Connor Syme who carded 62 in the morning and later in the evening by Japan's Hideto Tanihara, who took it down to 61.

But the man giving a master class was Robert Rock, who is bogey free through 36 holes and at 13-under comprising 64-63 is leading the field by two shots over Tyrell Hatton (65-64) and Jens Danthop (64-65).

Shubhankar, who started the day two-under, knew that he needed at least two-under to stay on for the weekend.

He missed a birdie chance on both first and second holes and then gave away a soft bogey on fourth, when the putt slipped by.

A birdie did come Shubhankar'a way on the short Par-4 sixth and it put him back to three-under. But a bogey Par-3 eighth dropped him back yet again.

On the back nine, the Indian kept coming close to birdies, but just did not manage to get them into the cup and his sole birdie was the Par-4 14th.

When Shubhankar missed a birdie chance on Par-5 16th things became tough and he signed for a 70 and exited.

It was quite an experience to play on Links courses, though my game these two days just did not get going. I will try my best next week at the Open at Carnoustie, Shubhankar said.

This is Shubhankar's third successive Major in his breakout year during which he has won Joburg Open and Malaysian Championships, both co-sanctioned by Asian and European Tours. He has played the first two Majors, the Masters and the US Open, but missed the cut at both.

It was Rock's first 36-hole bogey free total. Rock had five birdies in his first eight holes and he added two more on the 12th and 16th.

Hatton, who has won two of his three titles on Links courses, fired a flawless 64, with the highlight being a chip-in on 15th.

American Rickie Fowler (64-66), who won the Scottish Open in 2015, was fourth alongside England's Eddie Pepperell (67-63) at 10- under.

Lee Westwood (64-67), Li Haotong (66-65), Alexander Bjork (67-64) and Scott Fernandez (64-67) were nine-under and completed the top 10.