Ponte Vedra, Florida, USA, 11-05-2018
Anirban Lahiri off to a solid start at The Players Championship, lies tied 27th at three-under-69 after round one
India’s Anirban Lahiri got off to a good start on an opening day when low scores were in abundance at the Players Championship held at TPC Sawgrass.
Lahiri, who exited last year with a nightmarish 10 on the final hole in the second round, got a birdie back on it and it was one of the six birdies against three bogeys he had on Thursday to be placed tied-27th at the US$11,000,000 PGA Tour event.
Lahiri’s 69, which had a three-under-par 33 on the tougher front stretch, was also his first round in the 60s at the Players, where he has missed the cut in both previous appearances in 2015 and 2017.
There was a six-way tie at the top with World No. 1 Dustin Johnson of the United States among those at 66. The others were Johnson’s compatriots Webb Simpson, Chesson Hadley, Matt Kuchar and Patrick Cantlay as well as Swede Alex Noren.
“No, you're not going to win this tournament on Thursday. I'll take anything in the 60s. If you can stay in the 60s for four days you'll be fine. I think the course will get tougher on the weekend, but I'm looking forward to going out in the morning (in second round). I'm pretty sure that tomorrow morning when we go out it will definitely be a little easier than it was this afternoon. Probably slightly softer greens and lesser wind, so I look at tomorrow as an opportunity as well,” said Lahiri.
“I think that it (putting) was definitely better. I think I'm moving in the right direction. Finally getting more locked in on the speed. I think that's been my main issue is my speed putting has been a little off. As that gets better, I think you'll see more putts going in. So it was nice to make my 6-footers and to make the last putt which was about 13 or 15 feet,” added Lahiri who also holed out a 27-footer on the third.
On the ninth, his last hole, Lahiri had a great par save as he drained a 13-footer.
Source: Asian Tour / V Krishnaswamy at the Players Championship
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