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Ponte Vedra (Florida), March 15
Anirban Lahiri completed his first round of the Players Championship at a 2-under 70 to lie at tied-35th alongside the likes of Tiger Woods and defending champion Webb Simpson. Half-an-hour later, he began his second round and was 1-under through the front nine, taking his total to 3-under for 27 holes for a tied-21st spot. On the back nine, Lahiri made two birdies and one bogey to finish at a 1-under 71 for the round, which provisionally placed him at tied-31st place, with several players yet to finish their rounds. He had bogeyed the 11th, but birdied the par-3 13th and par-5 16th and negotiated the dreaded par-3 17th Island Green.
Russell Knox (6-under through 16), Kevin Kisner (4-under through 13) and US Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk (7-under through 13) were all tied for the lead at 8-under. Luke List (69-68) was the clubhouse leader at 7-under for 36 holes.
“After spending almost five-and-a-half hours working hard, I did not want to take a risk on a four-footer in near darkness, where I could barely see the cup. It was windy and I did not want to take chances and fritter a shot,” said Lahiri, who was 2-under through 17-and-a-half holes and then completed the round with one quick putt. Half an hour later he was off for his second round. Lahiri is hoping to make the cut at the Players Championship for the first time as he missed out on three previous occasions.
Lahiri's best opening round of 69 came last year but his second round 75 let him down as he missed the cut. Lahiri was playing in the final group of the afternoon session when the conditions were particularly tough with swirling winds. “When I got to the course in the afternoon and began playing, I was beginning to wonder if I was playing the same course as in the morning. I think I played solid to be 2-under with one more putt for par on the 18th,” said Lahiri, whose past three visits to the TPC Sawgrass have lasted only two rounds each.
Fleetwood, Bradley fire a 65
Tommy Fleetwood and Keegan Bradley were sharing the lead after first day honours at 65 each. A good number of the low scores came in the morning and notable among them were Korean An Byeong-Hun's 66 and Rory McIlory's 5-under 67. McIlroy was tied-4th at 67 along with Vaughn Taylor and Ryan Moore who aced the iconic par-3 17th at the Island Green. Woods seemed set for a good start as he birdied the 16th and the 17th to get to 3-under but he bogeyed the 18th to fall to a 2-under 70. The last bogey left a bad taste in the mouth for the two-time winner.
Lahiri had a good start with a birdie on the second and then barring a bogey on the eighth, he stayed clear of any punishing errors.
He opened the day with a birdie on the first and added two more on the 11th and the 15th. But the most satisfying part was that he kept his bogeys to just one, on the par-3 eighth. — PTI
Bhullar tied-3rd in Kenya Open
Nairobi: Gaganjeet Bhullar followed up his first round of a 6-under 65 with a second round 70 to lie tied-3rd after 36 holes of the Magical Kenya Open. Bhullar trails the leader Louis De Jager (64-66) by five shots. Jack Singh Brar, the first round joint leader, was lying second with rounds of 64-70. Sharing the third spot with Bhullar was the in-form Justin Harding (70-65) who is trying to get inside top-50 of the world ranking to qualify for the Masters and Guido Migliozi of Italy, who had rounds of 67-68. Also moving up was S Chikkarangappa (70-69), who was tied-12th, though some players were still on the course. Khalin Joshi (72-69) was also safe through to the weekend action at tied-33rd. However, Shubhankar Sharma was outside the cut line after a first round 3-over 74. He needs a low second round to make the cut, which is likely to fall at around 1-over. — PTI
The players championship
"After spending almost five-and-a-half hours working hard, I did not want to take a risk on a four-footer in near darkness, where I could barely see the cup. It was windy and I did not want to take chances and fritter a shot" Anirban Lahiri