San Diego, Jan 28: Anirban Lahiri survived the cut to make the weekend and improve on his position at the halfway stage of the Farmers Insurance Open. The Indian ace, who had just one birdie on either side of the at the Torrey Pines (South) however had the satisfaction of being bogey free.
With rounds of 71-70 he is now 3-under, which was also the cutline, and placed T-62nd, 14 places higher than where he was after the first round.
Three players, including the current World No. 1 Jon Rahm, and former No. 1 Justin Thomas, shared the lead at 13-under for 36 holes. The third player in the shared lead was Adam Schenk, who is a day short of his 30th birthday.
Asia’s top man right now was the Korean golf star Si Woo Kim who soared into contention thanks to a stellar 8-under 64. He is tied sixth and four behind co-leaders Thomas, Schenk and Rahm.
Lahiri did create a lot of opportunities between 10-15 feet for birdies, but missed at least six of them, including one inside 10 feet. His birdies came on Par- 4 12th and Par-4 fifth. He will now need to build on this bogey free round to rise upwards and finish strongly over the weekend.
The 26-year-old Kim, who is a three-time PGA TOUR winner including the 2017 PLAYERS Championship, rode on seven birdies and one eagle at Torrey Pines’ North Course for a two-day aggregate of 9-under 135.
Schenk’;s 62 at North Course was a career low 62 and it featured eight successive birdies from Hole Nos. 4-11 while 2017 FedExCup champion Thomas and Rahm, who won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines last year, carded 63 and 65 respectively also at the North Course to share the lead on 13-under.
Rahm birdied three of his first four holes and three of his last four on the North Course, for a 7-under 65, while Thomas made nine birdies and no bogeys to post a 9-under 63.
Dustin Johnson made five birdies against two bogeys for 3-under 69 and he was T-17.
Three-time Farmers Insurance Open winner Phil Mickelson followed a 4-over 76 in round one with a 1-under 71 to miss his second cut in as many weeks.
Another Korean, Sungjae Im, fired a solid 66 on the more difficult South Course for tied 12th place on 8-under.
Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan and Japan’s Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama will enter the final two rounds on 5-under after rounds of 72 (South Course) and 67 (North Course).
Players compete one round each during the first two days at the North Course and South Course, with the latter being used for the final two rounds.
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