Lahiri opens with 68 as a resurgent Day leads Wells Fargo

Potomac, MD, May 5-6: Anirban Lahiri opened with a steady 2-under 68 at the Wells Fargo Championship. He is Tied-38th and five shots behind the leader, Australian Jason Day (63).

Lahiri is looking to keep the momentum he had in the last few weeks going.  Lahiri was delighted his game has continued to trend in the right direction since his superb runner-up outing at THE PLAYERS Championship, the PGA TOUR’s flagship tournament, in March. He has posted two top-15 finishes in his last three starts. He had three birdies against one bogey.

“Think I’m coming in with some nice momentum, I’m feeling good about my game, most departments are healthy,” said the Indian ace, who birdied two of his four opening holes on his way to a 68.

“I got off to a good start. There’s a lot of tough holes out here and I think I navigated my way around pretty good. On my back nine, the front side, I think the wind kind of died down a little bit and felt like I gave up a few scoring opportunities coming in, so I was a little disappointed with that.

“Probably could have hit my lines a little bit better, and I missed a few greens. So yeah, going to go work on that and hopefully keep it going,” added Lahiri, who finished equal 13th at the Valero Texas Open and tied 15th at the Mexico Open at Vidanta last weekend

Starting on the back, he hit the drive to the left side of the fairway on the par-5 10th and his approach from 74 yards came to three feet, setting him up for a birdie. On the Par-4 13th hole, he hit a drive to the right side of the fairway on the 360-yard hole. He had a 93-yard approach shot and he did well to do so and birdied the hole to get to 2-under.

On the second nine, the front side of the course, on the 225-yard par-3 third, Lahiri hit a tee shot 219 yards at the green, setting himself up for the 10-foot putt for birdie to get to 3-under for the round.

On the 452-yard par-4 seventh, Lahiri had a bogey after reaching the green in three and two putting. He ended at 2-under.

Day, who last won one day less than four years ago, has been working on a new swing. Day shot a 7-under 63 to take the first-round lead as Joel Dahmen was a shot back. It may well be the best day for scoring at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, with rain, wind and unseasonably cool temperatures in the forecast through Sunday.

Matthew Wolff, local favourite Denny McCarthy and PGA TOUR rookies Aaron Rai, Callum Tarren and Paul Barjon were two shots back. Rory McIlroy, the top-ranked player in the field at No. 7, had an up-and-down 67.

Day, 34, has been working with instructor Chris Como on a swing that will protect his chronically troublesome back. Day is hoping to come close to the kind of form he once had – winning eight times in a 15-month span in 2015-16. His wins included the PGA Championship and THE PLAYERS Championship.

Day, who may well be the mainstay of the International Team at the President’s Cup, would have gladdened the heart of skipper Trevor Immelman. Day’s last win came in this tournament came at Quail Hollow but this time the Wells Fargo Championship moved to the Maryland suburbs of Washington this year because Quail Hollow is due to host the Presidents Cup in September.

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