AT&T Byron Nelson C’ships: Lahiri moves to tied 20th
Anirban Lahiri shoots a four-under 67 in the second round; makes the cut.
Published : May 19, 2018 23:15 IST
India’s Anirban Lahiri made the cut after the second round at the AT&T Byron Nelson Championships in Dallas, shooting a four-under 67 to finish tied 20th.
Marc Leishman added a five-under 66 and broke Tiger Woods’ 36-hole record, while World No. 3 Jordan Spieth, the highest ranked participant, was eight shots behind. Sergio Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion and two-time AT&T Byron Nelson winner, missed the cut at one-under.
The second-round 67 was Lahiri’s best performance since the Genesis Open in February. Lahiri had ended up with a similar score in the third round of that tourney. Curiously, Lahiri has had only four rounds in 60s in 10 starts in 2018 and Friday’s was his fifth.
Lahiri had five birdies and a bogey right at the finish line on 18th, which left a bitter taste. His last four holes alone could have had him at least three shots better, if not four. A 10th tee starter, Lahiri missed a 14-footer for birdie on sixth, eight-feet-seven inches for birdie on seventh, 10-feet-two inches for birdie on eighth and six-feet-nine inches for par on ninth. He missed two other putts inside 10 feet on his first nine on 13th and 15th.
‘Disappointed’
Lahiri, who is in the second week of his four-week stretch, said: “I am disappointed with my score [on Friday]. I felt like I left four-five shots on the greens. The ball-striking has been steadily improving over the last few weeks so I am happy about that. I just feel like a really low round is around the corner. I just need a couple of putts to drop and hopefully I can do that over the weekend and get into the mix on Sunday.”
The 34-year-old Aussie Leishman reached the halfway mark at the new Trinity Forest course at 15-under 127 for a one-shot lead over 21-year-old rookie Aaron Wise. Local man Spieth is eight back at a course where he is a member.
The winds were stronger on a course which has no trees, but they did not blow till late in the morning rounds. Yet, the wind didn’t bother Wise, who shot a bogey-free 63 in the afternoon.
Career low for Gay
Brian Gay, also playing in calmer morning conditions, matched his career low at 62 to reach 13-under. Kevin Na (65), Eric Axley (65) and Jimmy Walker are 11-under. Spieth (66), at seven-under 135 after matching Leishman’s second-round 66, missed two putts inside three feet for two of his three bogeys.
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The previous 36-hole record for the AT&T Byron Nelson was 12-under 128 at the par-70 Four Seasons. Woods did it twice along with four others. Wise matched the 128 and was at 14-under. Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters winner, who is trying to avoid sectional qualifying for the US Open to maintain a major streak that goes back to 2001, shot a bogey-free 65 and was among five players at 10-under a week after finishing tied for 11th at The Players Championship.
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Defending champion Billy Horschel shot 69 and was five-under. Hideki Matsuyama, the only other world top-10 besides Spieth in the field (No. 9), shot 63 to join him at seven-under.
Chawrasia misses cut in Belgium
India’s S. S. P. Chawrasia missed the cut with rounds of 77-71 on the second day of the inaugural Belgian Knockout.
Chawrasia, who had two double-bogeys in his first-round 77, performed much better in the second round on Friday, but it was not enough to carry him through to the knockout stage. After two rounds, the top 64 players entered the knockout stage, where they will play nine-hole matches and the winner will proceed to the subsequent round.
Home heroes Nicolas Colsaerts, Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters all cruised into the weekend after making the cut. Day Two came to a dramatic conclusion as an 11-man playoff took place to decide the final eight players to progress.
Jorge Campillo, one of the in-form players on the European Tour with four top-five finishes this season, emerged as the top seed; the Spaniard boasted the 36-hole lead on eight-under-par following two 67s.
Asia Pacific Classic: Basoya lies 26th
India’s Honey Baisoya was unable to cash in on a fine start in the third round of the USD 300,000 Asia-Pacific Classic.
The young Indian carded an even par 72 and is now 4-under 212 to move to tied-26th, three places below where he was a round earlier. The other Indian, S. Chikkarangappa (73), made the cut; he was T-50 at even-par 216.
John Catlin of the U.S. stayed on course to win his maiden Asian Tour title after carding a three-under-par 69. He had six birdies against three bogeys to lead with a 13-under-par 203 total at the St Andrews Golf Club. Adam Blyth of Australia was just a shot behind the leader after signing a 68.
Baisoya had three birdies in his first five holes and seemed to make good headway. A bogey on seventh followed by five pars and a birdie saw him at three-under through 13 holes. Then, he bogeyed 14th, 17th and 18th and disappointingly dropped down. Chikkarangappa had two birdies against three bogeys.
Japan’s Shohei Hasegawa finished the day in lone third place, piling up 206 in total. He had four birdies against a lone bogey on hole 14. Local favourite Xiao Bowen continued to play well on home soil as he carded a 69 to keep pace with the leaders. He was tied-fourth with Englishman Callum Tarren and Australian Jack Wilson; seven golfers were tied-seventh, five shots off the lead.