Portrush, Northern Ireland: India’s Shubhankar Sharma believes he still has enough gas left in his tank to surmount one last charge after returning with a disappointing third round six-over-par 77 at The 148th Open on Saturday.

Sharma, the reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit champion, started promisingly with a birdie on the second hole but double-bogeyed the fifth hole to drop back to even-par. 

He got a reprieve with another birdie on nine but was left to stare at a disastrous card as he dropped seven shots in his next six holes after the turn.

“I played pretty decent in my front-nine but I lost my swing in the back-nine. I chose the wrong holes to lose my swing especially on holes 10 and 11 where you cannot afford to do that. 

“Basically, I made a lot of bad drives on my back-nine which cost me,” said Sharma.

India’s sole representative at Royal Portrush finally closed with a birdie on the 18th to settle for a three-day total of six-over-par 219.

“I just want to get back to where my game should be and finish off strongly. It was a bad day in the office today and hopefully tomorrow will be better. I’m happy to still be playing on a Sunday,” said Sharma.