Houston Open 2021: Lahiri fighting to stay afloat

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri will need at least two birdies to make the cut after being three-over through 28 holes in the weather-hit second round of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open here.

Lahiri was moving along with a series of pars for the first 15 holes before dropping two quick shots in succession to finish at 2-over 72 in the first round.

The Indian then had one bogey in 10 holes in the second round when play was suspended due to darkness.

When play stopped, Lahiri was 3-over through 28 holes and needed at least two birdies in last eight holes to have a chance of making the cut.

After six pars, Lahiri bogeyed the par-5 sixth and then had another three pars when play ended for the day.

Martin Trainer grabbed the lead after he holed a pair of long birdie putts in a bogey-free round at Memorial Park for a 5-under 65. He was one shot ahead of Kevin Tway.

The second round would not be completed until Saturday morning as the tournament tried to catch up from a long weather delay at the start of the tournament.

Though the cut would not be made till the third day, it was clear that four-time major champion Brooks Koepka would miss it for the second straight week. He shot 71-72 to be 3-over as the cut was likely to fall at 1-over.

Trainer, 30, won the Puerto Rico Open in 2019 as a rookie and has made only nine cuts in 70 starts on the PGA TOUR since then.

Tway had a pair of eagles in his 64.

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Jason Kokrak was 8 under with seven holes left. Adam Long was another stroke back after a 67.

The day belonged to Scottie Scheffler, who had a 62 and was four shots behind in the group that included fellow Texas Longhorn Kramer Hickok.

Kapur leads by one stroke at Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational

Experienced golfer Shiv Kapur turned in five-under 67 to grab a slender one-shot advantage in a packed leaderboard after the third and penultimate round of the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational in Chandigarh.

Kapur (64-68-67), a four-time winner on the Asian Tour, was 17-under 199 after three days in the Rs. 1.5 crore event Presented by TAKE Sports.

The Dubai-based golfer, one of the pre-tournament favourites, built on his solid previous rounds to be the leader for the third day running at the Chandigarh Golf Club.

Aadil Bedi (68-65-67), a winner on the PGTI in early 2020, kept local hopes alive as he went error-free for the second straight day during his 67 to move up one spot to second position at 16-under 200.

Delhi's Rashid Khan (65-67-69), a two-time Asian Tour winner, slipped out of the overnight joint lead and dropped to third place at 15-under 201 following his 69.

Delhi's Kshitij Naveed Kaul (69) occupied fourth place at 13-under 203.

Gurugram-based Dhruv Sheoran carded the day's best score of eight-under 64 to climb 10 places to tied fifth at 12-under 204. Olympian Udayan Mane (67) was also tied for fifth along with Sheoran.

Besides Bedi, there were three other Chandigarh professionals in the top-10 as Yuvraj Singh Sandhu and Abhijit Singh Chadha were tied seventh at 11-under 205, while defending champion Karandeep Kochhar climbed 12 spots to tied ninth at nine-under 207 after his round of 65.

Among the other marquee names in the field, former champion Ajeetesh Sandhu of Chandigarh and SSP Chawrasia were both in tied 11th at eight-under 208 while Jyoti Randhawa was another three shots back in tied 18th.

Former champion Chikkarangappa of Bengaluru was tied 23rd at four-under 212. Gaganjeet Bhullar was tied 34th at two-under 214.

The two amateurs to make the cut, US-based Varun Chopra (three-under 213) and Aryan Roopa Anand (even-par 216) of Bengaluru, were placed tied 26th and tied 49th respectively.