Akron (the US): Golfer Anirban Lahiri shot a fine five-under 65 to position himself in tied seventh place after the opening day of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club here, Thursday
Landing six birdies against one solitary bogey, Lahiri was three shots behind the leader and two-time WGC winner, Ian Poulter, whose eight-under 62 tied the record for lowest first-round score in the competition. Poulter had eight birdies on the day and did not concede a bogey.
India’s other player in the field, Shubhankar Sharma shot two-over 72 and was tied 63rd in the 71-man field. Sharma had two birdies against four bogeys in his third WGC appearance. Tiger Woods, an eight-time winner here Firestone, opened with a 66 to sit at T-14.
Lahiri and six others, Rory Mcllroy, Jason Day, Justin Thomas, Marc Leishman, Luke List and Kevin Na are all bunched together at the same score. The 65 was Lahiri’s best round at Firestone and his lowest opening round this season. This is his third appearance in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational where he finished T-53 and T-33 in 2016 and 2015 respectively.
Lahiri’s play was a mix of great second shots and when he did miss the green in regulation, he chipped well enough to find up and downs and pars.
Bhullar impresses
At the Fiji Natadola Bay golf course Gaganjeet Bhullar recovered from a shaky start to card three-under 69 Friday for a share of the fifth spot at the Fiji International golf tournament. He is six shots behind the runaway leader Kiwi Ben Campbell, who shot 67 after his first round 66 to get to 11-under.
Of the four Indians in the field, Ajeetesh Sandhu (73-73) was the only other one to make the cut, while Shiv Kapur (80-72) and Chiragh Kumar (77-80) missed out.
Bhullar is happy at the way he has so far played. “I’m doing exactly the same stuff I’ve been doing all these years. For some reason the ball is going in the hole more often. Yeah, the last couple of months have been really good,” Bhullar said.