It was not the best of starts for Anirban Lahiri with a 4-over 75, but his senior colleague Arjun Atwal carded 1-under 70 to be placed T-25 after first round at the wind-swept Butterfield Bermuda Championship here.
Lahiri’s 75 placed him T-89 and he needs a solid second round to make the cut, while Atwal needs to maintain the form.
Indian-born Swede Daniel Chopra shot 2-over 73 and was T-63 while Sahith Theegala, an Indian American, shot even par over 14 holes when play ended early.
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Atwal, who gets to the Champions Tour, returned a commendable 70 in the afternoon’s play which featured four birdies against three bogeys. This week is his first TOUR start since July’s Barbasol Championship.
Lahiri had an eventful round with three birdies, five bogeys and a double bogey and the strong winds made scoring difficult for the morning session.
At one point play was suspended around lunchtime for 15 minutes due to rain and winds. A total of 13 players will complete their first rounds on Friday.
The leading Asian was the Thai star Kiradech Aphibarnrat who enjoyed the luck of the draw as he opened with a 4-under 67 to share fourth place and lie two strokes off the lead on Thursday.
Fresh from a three-week break, the 32-year-old Kiradech began his first round in the afternoon session with successive bogeys on hole number 11 and 12 but bounced back strongly with six birdies, including on all three of the par-5 holes at Port Royal Golf Course.
Brandon Hagy and Chad Ramey share the lead after shooting matching 65s in the USD 6.5 million PGA TOUR tournament which is offering the full 500 FedExCup points to the winner.
The opening 67 was Kiradech’s lowest round yet in the 2021-22 season following two missed cut appearances.
Korea’s Sangmoon Bae, a two-time TOUR winner, carded a 71.
Hagy and Ramy put themselves in prime position for a maiden TOUR title with rounds of 65 each.
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