Anirban Lahiri lying T5 in Texas

Anand Datla

May 28, 2016: Darkness must have come as a relief for Anirban Lahiri. Even as fading light forced a suspension of the second round in the Dean & Deluca Invitational, Lahiri was battling to rise above a familiar script in his rookie season on the PGA TOUR. The 56th ranked Indian had begun with an eagle – birdie at the first two holes, but three bogeys over a four hole stretch left him scrambling as he made the turn. Lahiri was six under midway through his second round, with six holes remaining to be played on Saturday.

Lahiri was 1-under through 12 holes, courtesy of a birdie at the 10th hole. Bryce Molder was still in the lead at 9-under through 15 holes, but Webb Simpson at 8-under and Jordan Spieth at 7-under are already sipping their drinks inside the comfort of the clubhouse in Fort Worth, Texas.

Inconsistency has been Lahiri’s bane this season and the truncated second round on Friday followed a familiar pattern. After a brilliant start – he was three under through the first two holes – Lahiri conceded four bogeys at 3, 6, 8 and 9, punctuated by a birdie at the fifth hole.

Anirban was on the green in two on the first hole, before sinking his birdie putt from 23 feet for a rousing start to his round. But he sailed left on the third hole, landing in the rough with his second shot. He had 20 feet for par, but needed two putts to record his first bogey of the round.

On the par-4 sixth hole, Lahiri traveled from rough to rough, left to right before he two putted again for bogey. The green side bunker proved to be Lahiri’s undoing at the 8th hole while he had to work his way out of the left intermediate at the ninth hole.

The third round will resume at 0730am local time in Texas on Saturday. Anirban will hope to score a couple of birdies to inch closer to the leader before he starts his third round.