Lahiri lies T-37 in opening round of Puerto Rico Open

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri carded a two-under 70 in the first round to be tied 37th at the PGA TOUR's Puerto Rico Open. Meanwhile, Aditi Ashok had a modest start in the first round of the Gainbridge LPGA.

Published : Feb 26, 2021 17:13 IST

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri is returning to action after three weeks.
Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri is returning to action after three weeks.
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Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri is returning to action after three weeks.

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri carded a two-under 70 in the first round to be tied 37th at the PGA TOUR's Puerto Rico Open in the Rio Grande.

Lahiri, returning to action after three weeks, opened with a hat-trick of birdies from second to fourth and closed the day with a superb eagle, but in between had four bogeys between 10th and 17th.

Lahiri's senior colleague, Arjun Atwal, who is playing for the first time in four months, scored one-under 71 to be tied 52nd.

Daniel Chopra, who played with Lahiri, shot two-over 74 and was T-97.

 

The leader was Tommy Gainey, who birdied five of the last seven holes for a seven-under 65.

Gainey, 45, had his lone PGA Tour win in 2012 and led by one over local favourite Rafael Campos, Robert Garrigus, Taylor Pendrith, Lee Hodges, Greg Chalmers, Fabian Gomez and Brandon Wu.

Gainey birdied the opening two holes and three of the first four and overall had nine birdies against two bogeys.

One of the early starters in the first round, Lahiri, who has not won since the 2015 Hero Indian Open, started with a par on the first. He birdied three in a row from second to fourth, parred the rest of the front nine to turn in a healthy three-under.

 

Lahiri then dropped shots on 10th, 13th, 16th and 17th with just one birdie on Par-5 15th. When he came to the 18th tee for the Par-5 closing hole, he was even par despite a fine start.

Lahiri then fired two fine shots and landed an eagle for a satisfying two-under 70.

Atwal had three birdies against two bogeys, while Chopra had two birdies against four bogeys.

Modest start for Aditi

Aditi Ashok opened her 2021 campaign with a modest 2-over 74 in the first round of the Gainbridge LPGA at the Lake Nona Golf and Country Club.

Aditi had two birdies against four bogeys and was T-67. She birdied seventh and 17th and bogeyed second, eighth, 10th and 11th. Aditi, who has not played since the Andalucia Open de Espana in November 2020, has slipped to 172 in world rankings.

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