Slow start for Lahiri, needs strong second round to make cut at Safeway
Napa (California): Anirban Lahiri ran into early trouble after starting from the back nine in the first round of the Safeway Open Championship, ending the opening day at two-over 74 to be Tied-128.
Playing only his second event since March and the first in the last four weeks, Lahiri had two birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey and will now need a low second round to stay on for the weekend.
Meanwhile, Scotsman, Russell Knox, who stays in the US, shot 9-under 63 to take the first-round lead in the first event of the new PGA TOUR 2020-21 season.
Lahiri hit nine 9 of the 18 greens in regulation. He got off to a superb start with a 33-foot birdie on 11th for his first birdie. But he messed up the next hole with a double on Par-4 13th where he reached the green in four and two-putted.
A five-foot par putt miss meant a bogey on par-4 14th. Dropping three shots in two holes derailed his progress, but he held on for the next few holes with pars before a trip into the native area on 18th meant another bogey. He turned in 3-over 39.
Playing catch-up on the second nine, he birdied the Par-5 fifth from seven feet and parred the rest. For a good part of the day he was not getting close enough to give himself birdie chances from around 10 feet or so.
On a course where Par-5 scoring is the key, Lahiri had just one birdie in four Par-5s.
Akshay Bhatia, an American of Indian origin, and just 18, shot 6-under 66, to be T-11. Bhatia's eight birdies included four on the four Par-5s and he dropped shots on two of the Par-3s. Left-hander Bhatia is being mentored by Phil Mickelson, who himself shot 1-under 71 and was T-81st.
Another American of Indian origin Sahith Theegala shot 1-under 71 and was T-81. Theegala turned pro in 2020, while Bhatia was just 17 when he turned pro in 2019.
