Shubhankar Sharma misses cut for second straight week, leader Sullivan sparks on back nine

Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma carded a one-under par 70 in the second round of the English Championship but that was not enough to keep him alive in the low-scoring event. 

Sharma aggregated one-under 141 over two rounds, missing the cut for the second time in as many weeks in the UK Swing, which is taking place amid the COVID-19 the pandemic.

The year, even before the coronavirus outbreak, had not been great for the 24-year-old.

He has made just one cut on the European Tour in 2020 and that came in the first start at the Abu Dhabi Championship where he finished T-59. 

Since then, this is his sixth missed cut in a row and he made the cut only once on a domestic Indian Tour event, the Tata Steel PGTI Players Championship in February when he finished T-29.

Sharma started with a birdie for the second day in a row but suffered a double bogey on Par-5 sixth, which he bogeyed on the first day.

A birdie on ninth was followed by an eagle on Par-5 12th before he bogeyed on Par-3 16th. The closing birdie on 18th was a small consolation as he is going to miss the weekend rounds. 

Andy Sullivan, who was T-4 at the British Masters, recorded the lowest nine of his European Tour career as he opened up a one shot lead heading into the weekend at the Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel and Country Club.

Sullivan (62) turned in 34 with birdies on the first, sixth and ninth and a single dropped shot on the eighth but really came to life on the back nine with a 28 with seven birdies in nine holes.

The only ones he missed out were on 11th and 17th and is now 14-under and one shot clear of countryman Laurie Canter (65) and South Africa's Dean Burmester (63), who also had a 28 on the back nine.

The cut fell at three-under and among those missing it were last week's winner Sam Horsfield and Gavin Green.

Sullivan, a three-time winner on the European Tour in 2015, has been in some good form and now has nine rounds in the 60s out of ten since the Tour re-start.

As many as nine players were three shots off the lead and it included Andrew Johnston (65), Nicolas Colsaerts (66), Jamie Donaldson (64), Min Woo Lee (67) and. Brandon Stone (66).