Lahiri and Shubhankar off to great start

India's Anirban Lahiri tied 10th place in the first round of the Shriners Children's Open. On the other hand, Lahiri's compatriot, Shubhankar Sharma tied in the opening round at the ACCIONA Open de Espana.

India's Anirban Lahiri in action.(File Photo)

India's Anirban Lahiri got off to a superb start with a 6-under 65 that included an eagle chip-in and five other birdies for a tied 10th place in the first round of the Shriners Children's Open.

Lahiri's 65 put him in tied 10th place on a course that afforded low scores led by Sung Kang, who shot 10-under 61 with an eagle finish from 18 feet. He led by two strokes over Charley Hoffman, Chad Ramey and fellow South Korean Sungjae Im, who are all tied for second at 8-under 63.

Indian-American Sahith Theegala, who was T-8 last week, shot 1-under 70 and was way behind at 99th.

Lahiri, still searching for his maiden PGA Tour win said, "I'm quite happy with the way I played. I drove it really well today, so it was nice to get that rhythm going with the drivers that was definitely something that was not there last week.

 

"I've put in some work with (coach) Vijay (Divecha) earlier and on the weekend."

He added, "It was nice to pick up an extra shot on that 16th with a nice eagle chip-In from a difficult position (about 45 feet), but I just feel like I could have probably come in a little bit better." Lahiri hit only 8 of the 18 greens in regulation, even though he drove well in the first round. But he had no misses inside 10 feet and had a fine chip-in from 45 feet, to boot.

Lahiri, starting from 10th birdied the par-4 12th and then the 13th followed by another at the par-4 15th.

At the par-5 16th, Lahiri chipped in his third shot from 15 yards off the green for an eagle to get to 5-under for the round. Then on the 196-yard par-3 17th, Lahiri's tee shot went 170 yards to the right side of the fairway and he missed the green in regulation.

Solid start for Shubhankar in Madrid

Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma carded a solid 4-under 67, laced with five birdies, in the opening round to be tied 21st at the ACCIONA Open de Espana.

Sharma, who has time and again shown glimpses of fine form but also given away some advantage after that, was looking good once again, stumbled to just one late bogey on the sixth, which was his 15th hole.

India's other star, Gaganjeet Bhullar, opened with 4-over 75 and needs a good second round to make the cut.

Ross McGowan produced a course record 61 and led the way after round one, but world number one Jon Rahm was just two shots back on home soil.