St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland, 19-07-2015
Lahiri settles for a 71 and tied 26th place in round three despite early fireworks
Indian totals six-under to be six off the pace
India’s Anirban Lahiri settled for a one-under-71 and a share of 26th place in round three of the British Open despite a whirlwind start that saw him get within one shot of the lead at one stage.
Lahiri, having so far posted scores of 69, 70 and 71, in his debut at the Home of Golf in St. Andrews, now has a six-under-210 total going into the final round. He trails the third round leaders including Irish amateur Paul Dunne, South African Louis Oosthuizen and Australian Jason Day, by six shots.
Anirban, a two-time winner on the European Tour this year, looked like a man on a mission on Sunday as he accumulated four birdies on his first 11 holes to come within one shot of the lead. He had risen to joint fourth place at that stage.
The 28-year-old, was however left with a putter that turned cold from the par-four 13th onwards. Thereafter, Lahiri’s three bogeys within a space of five holes ensured his deep descent down the leaderboard.
“It was a tough stretch and that’s probably the toughest stretch on this golf course. I should have been in the 60s today at worse so it’s disappointing,” said Anirban.
He now hopes to regain his confidence swiftly in time for his final round as he still has a shot at achieving the best Indian finish at a Major (T9 - Jeev Milkha Singh at PGA Championship 2008) & at The Open (T27 - Jyoti Randhawa in 2004).
“My game is right up there and I just need to get my confidence back on the greens. I don’t think I’m doing much wrong, so it should be a simple fix,” said Lahiri, a seven-time Asian Tour winner.
“I missed only one green today but when you have 34 putts in a round, that’s not a good sign. I hit it to 25 feet on 13 and had a realistic birdie chance but I missed a putt there. I got a little upset then and hit a bad drive on 14 that caused me a bogey again as it went into the bunker.
“I don’t think I played badly but it’s obviously disappointing when you shoot yourself in the foot when it comes to scoring. I’m playing well enough to make birdies and I have to try to keep a clean sheet like what I’ve done in my second round. That should help,” added Lahiri, the current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader.
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