Lahiri makes strong opening statement with a solid 69

Ponte Vedra (US), May 12

Anirban Lahiri shot a solid 3-under 69 to be tied-27th even as the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass yielded a lot of low scores on the opening day of the Players Championships. While six players, including world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, shot a bogey-free 6-under 66, another six players were a shot behind at tied-7th. However, despite a lot of low scores, some big names struggled and that lot included Phil Mickelson (79), Jordan Spieth (75), Rickie Fowler (74) and Justin Thomas (73), among others. Amidst all this, Tiger Woods (72) salvaged his round with a closing eagle on the ninth for a tied-69th spot.Lahiri, who exited last year with a disastrous 10 on the par-4 18th in the second round, got some revenge with a birdie on it. He had six birdies against three bogeys, and was bogey-free on the tougher front stretch of the course. Lahiri’s round of 69 is his first in the 60s at the Championships, where he has missed the cut in both his previous appearances in 2015 and 2017.“No, you’re not going to win this tournament on Thursday. I’ll take anything in the 60s. If you can stay in the 60s for four days, you’ll be fine,” said Lahiri. “I think the course will get tougher on the weekend, but I’m looking forward to going out in the morning (in the second round). I’m pretty sure that tomorrow morning when we go out, it will definitely be a little easier than it was this afternoon.” His putting, which has been a concern for Lahiri of late, showed marked improvement. “I think that it (putting) was definitely better. I think I’m moving in the right direction. Finally getting more locked in on the speed. I think that’s been my main issue, my speed putting has been a little off. “As that gets better, I think you’ll see more putts going in. So it was nice to make my 6-footers and to make the last putt about 13 or 15 feet.” He also holed a 27-footer on the par-3 third, but missed a couple inside 10 feet. On the ninth, his last hole, Lahiri had a great par save as he drained a 13-footer.