Anirban Lahiri sails into Bermuda golf final rounds
Lahiri excelled in the tough, windy conditions to card a four-under to make the cut while compatriot Arjun Atwal failed.
Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri expertly rode the winds to comfortably make the cut at the PGA Tour’s Bermuda Championships late on Friday.
The strong winds at the Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, New York caught out most of the field as just the top-36 were able to card an under-par score. And Lahiri was among the most impressive.
The Rio 2016 Olympian, who carded seven birdies and four bogeys to end three-under on the opening day, was a lot more cautious in the second round.
Beginning Friday on the back nine, Lahiri hit par till the 14th hole before dropping a shot on the par-4 15th. However, he made up for it with a well-judged birdie on the 18th hole to go onto the front part of the course on even-par.
Lahiri had scored five birdies in the opening round on the front nine but he was less adventurous with the winds blowing hard.
The Indian golfer managed par on every hole and a second birdie of the day on the par-4 fifth meant that he ended the round one-under. It placed Lahiri tied-12th with five other golfers, including Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington.
“I’m quite happy with the way I played. It was tough, really tough. Today the gusts were up but the greens were slow, making it just borderline playable. It was a grind,” Lahiri admitted after the round.
The cut only came in on Saturday after the round was suspended overnight due to darkness. It meant a relatively early end for the 500 spectators on the course, the first time they were allowed on the PGA Tour.
The other Indian golfer in the field Arjun Atwal could not quite find his bearings. Atwal managed a one-under 70 in the second round but his first-round 75 meant that he missed the cut by two shots.
Armour, Clark share lead
American golfers Ryan Armour and Wyndham Clark went into the weekend with the joint-lead. Both had a score of eight-under after two rounds.
Kramer Hickok was third, one shot behind, while Ollie Schniederjans and Doc Redman kept the pressure on the leaders with an identical six-under score after two rounds.