Anirban Lahiri. File pic
Greensboro, NC, Aug 5: Anirban Lahiri got off to a fine start with 4-under 66 despite a disappointing closing bogey on the 18th in the first round of the Wyndham Championship, the final event on the PGA Tour’s regular season.
He had six birdies, three on either side of the Sedgefield Country Club; he also dropped one shot each of the course with one of them being on the closing 18th. Lahiri was T-14 after the first round.
John Huh led the field with a stunning 9-under 61 with seven birdies and an eagle. He had six birdies on the back nine. Korean Sungjae Im starting on the 10th is in second place at 7-under 63 that had two eagles, four birdies and one bogey. He had his eagle on Par-5 15th and then on Par-5 fifth. Brian Stuard and Cameron Percy are tied for 3rd at 5 under.
Lahiri played extremely well with his irons, showing that the work he had done with his coach Vijay Divecha, back in India the last couple of weeks, had been useful. He found 16 of the 18 greens in regulation, but his putter let him down. He created a lot of chances, but also missed as many as five putts inside 10 feet, including the bogey on the third from five feet and the final bogey on 18th from under seven and a half feet.
However he also had two putts over 20 feet – a 21-footer for birdie on Par-3 12th and a 22-footer for another birdie on Par-4 14th.
A recent 10-day trip back to India to fine-tune his game with swing coach, Vijay Divecha, seems to have paid off as Lahiri, who was runner-up at THE PLAYERS Championship in March, shot a 66 for a share of 14th position. He had missed four of his last five cuts which prompted his trip and a closing bogey failed to dampen his spirit.
“I’m really excited about how I’m playing. I think I played really, really good. Putted pretty bad, to be honest, and still shot a good score. I think the time off working with my coach, going back to India, like I can feel that confidence. I’m seeing shots better, I’m hitting much, much better golf shots. Obviously you’ve got to clean up a little bit and hopefully kind of bring it all together,” said Lahiri, who ranked fifth in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green but was 112th in the putting category.
At a venue where countryman Arjun Atwal wrote a slice of golf history by becoming the first Indian winner on the PGA TOUR in 2010, Lahiri knows there is plenty to play for especially with the FedExCup Playoffs starting next week and with the Presidents Cup International Team qualifying concluding in three weeks’ time.
He feels at home at Sedgefield. “It’s a lot like what I played growing up. Bermuda is something that comes naturally to me, although I don’t think I’ve ever played Bermuda greens as fast as this. I’ve shot some good scores here and hopefully I can just build on this,” he said.
“I’ve kind of cooled off a little bit since May. I had a good stretch going there from THE PLAYERS onward, I had some good momentum, took a break and haven’t really been able to get back to playing my best. And I’ve not played the last three weeks, that was another decision I took with just going and seeing my coach.”
Lahiri birdied the first, fifth and sixth and dropped a shot on third. On the back nine he birdied 12th, 14th and 15th but dropped a shot on 18th, where he had a 298-yard drive on the 507-yard par-4 hole. Lahiri chipped his third shot to little over 7 feet from where he missed a par putt.
His two long birdies were on the 235-yard par-3 12th, where he hit his tee shot to 21 feet and holed it. On the 505-yard par-4 14th hole, Lahiri reached the green in two and sunk a 22-foot putt for birdie.
Sungjae Im soared on eagle’s wings as he flew into second place with a superb 7-under 63 following the first round of the Wyndham Championship on Thursday as countryman Joohyung “Tom” Kim continued to impress a week after securing his PGA TOUR card. Kim shot 67 and was T-23.
