European Tour, PGA Tour, World Golf ChampionshipsBrian KeoghTshwane Open, WGC-Mexico Championship, Shubhankar Sharma, Paul Dunne, Gavin Moynihan

Tough days for Dunne and Moynihan

European Tour, PGA Tour, World Golf ChampionshipsBrian KeoghTshwane Open, WGC-Mexico Championship, Shubhankar Sharma, Paul Dunne, Gavin Moynihan
Tough days for Dunne and Moynihan
Shubhankar Sharma of India after sinking a birdie putt on the 18th hole to lead the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec on March 2, 2018. Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images

Shubhankar Sharma of India after sinking a birdie putt on the 18th hole to lead the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec on March 2, 2018. Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images

Gavin Moynihan missed the cut in South Africa but Paul Dunne is guaranteed a payday despite another disappointing day in the WGC-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec.

The Greystones man added a four-over 75 to his opening 73 to slip nine places to tied 58th in the 64-man field on six-over par.

He'd still earn $55,500 if he were to finish there on Sunday, but the world No 86 is more concerned about harvesting as many world ranking points as he can in the $10,000,000 event.

With the top 64 available players in the world rankings qualifying for the WGC-Dell Technologies Championship in Austin later this month and less than four weeks to make the top 50 who qualify for the Masters, Dunne may be playing his last event until after Augusta.

He needs to be solo second at worst to qualify for the Masters this week and fourth to make it to Texas. But a good finish is still worth its weight in gold, and he'll be aiming to hit more fairways in round three after another costly day from the tee.

Ranked last for driving accuracy after hitting just four of 14 fairways yesterday, one more than on Thursday, he mixed birdies at the driveable first and par-five 11th and 15th with five bogeys and a double-bogey six at the 12th, where he three-putted from long range.

At the business end of the leaderboard,  India's Shubhankar Sharma birdied his last three holes for a five-under 66 and a two-stroke lead on 11-under par over American Xander Schauffele (68) and Spanish duo Rafa Cabrera Bello (67) and Sergio Garcia (65), the Masters champion.

It's been a remarkable season for the 21-year old world No 75, who won the Joburg Open in December, then clinched the Maybank Championship in Malaysia and currently leads the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex.

“I'm really happy – I couldn't be in a better situation," Sharma said. "I played so well, and the bogeys that I made today were just three-putts. Otherwise, I just get the ball in play all day, and it was great to finish with three birdies in a row.

“I thought about nothing; I just wanted to have fun. It's my first WGC and I was happy that I'll play four days because I missed the cut in the last two events that I played. 

"Even though I missed the cuts, I knew I was playing well. So I just wanted to have fun, and yeah, I've had a lot of fun.

“I worked all my life to come and play at a high stage like this. You have to expect great things from yourself if you want to play at a high stage.”

Sharma turned professional in 2013 and played primarily on the Asian Tour before his Joburg Open win, which earned him an entry to The Open Championship in July as it was part of the Open Qualifying series.

Garcia, meanwhile, eagled the 11th and also had four birdies in a round of 65, while his compatriot Cabrera Bello birdied four of his first six holes. 

Louis Oosthuizen (71), Pat Perez (67), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (69), Dustin Johnson (66), Bubba Watson (66), Brendan Steele (66) and Brian Harman (67) are four shots off the lead in joint fifth on seven-under

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Moynihan off his greens in Tshwane Open

Gavin Moynihan knows he must improve on the greens after he missed his sixth cut from six starts this season in the Tshwane Open in South Africa.

The Mount Juliet touring professional (23) began his rookie campaign with back-to-back missed cuts just before Christmas.

But after also missing the weekend action in his first four starts this year, he knows he must improve with the blade before he returns to action next month. 

"Last four weeks have been tough," Moynihan told his Twitter followers after posting a two-over 73 at Pretoria Country Club to miss the one-under par cut by seven shots. 

"Getting nothing out of my game. Ballstriking is there but putting is just nowhere good enough. Lot of work to do."

Tournament leader George Coetzee (31) knows what it's like to struggle after missing 11 cuts in his rookie European Tour season eight years ago.

But he's now seeking his fourth tour win on home soil and his second Tshwane Open title since 2015 after carding an immaculate, seven-under 64 to lead by a shot from Finn Mikko Korhonen (64) and Chile's Felipe Aguilar (67) on 11-under par.

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