Despite putting woes, Anirban Lahiri opens with fine 65 at Wyndham Championships

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri opened the week at the Wyndham Championships with a five-under 65 to grab the tied 13th place after the opening round at the Sedgefield Country Club on Friday, PTI reported.

Lahiri’s card could well have been an even better and as low as a 61 or 62 had some of the short putts dropped.

The Indian is now four shots behind the leader Matt Every (61), who equaled the course record of 61 set by another Indian, Arjun Atwal in 2010.

Lahiri, whose new set of irons arrived just before the Wyndham Championships, found them great and they did their job and provided him with ample birdie opportunities, but unfortunately his putting woes continued to bother him.

“I missed at least 5-6 putts inside 10 feet and some of them were inside six feet, so it could have been way better, even though 65 is not all that bad,” said Lahiri.

“But this is a kind of a course, where even three-under would push you back.”

The other Indian in the fray this week is Atwal, a former winner of this event in 2010. He shot one-under 69 in the first round and was Tied-86th. Atwal is the first and to-date the only Indian to win on the PGA Tour.

Gangjee tied-12th at Fiji International, Shubhankar also makes cut

Rahil Gangjee continued to be the top Indian at the Fiji International as he added a round of 72 to his first round 69 to be placed tied 12th with a total of three-under 141 on Friday.

Shubhankar Sharma (75-71) also made the cut at two-over 146, while S Chikkarangappa (74-77) missed it. Gangjee said, “I didn’t make any putts today. I made only one for par and that was it. That was the main difference for me today but I still stay patient out there. I keep telling myself that it will come to me.

“I missed a lot of birdie chances out there. I played decently and gave myself a lot of opportunities but didn’t manage to convert anything.

“I had a two putt on 17 for birdie and that was it. I putted in from about 35 to 40 feet at the edge of the green. It was not as windy as it was yesterday. The winds were slightly different too, especially in the morning when I started. It was coming from different directions. It got me thinking a little bit.”