June 25, 2016: Anirban Lahiri produced some clutch golf to survive a seemingly unavoidable cut on Friday. The resilient Indian produced a pair of birdies on his final two holes of the second round to get even with the course and earn his weekend stay at the Quicken Loans National. Arjun Atwal was a picture of consistency, producing a second straight 70, gaining 19 spots on the leaderboard to T36. Bill Hurley III and John Rahm enjoyed a three shot lead over veteran Vijay Singh at 11-under 131 through 36 holes.
The cut fell at even par 142 and Lahiri was lying two over after sixteen holes of the second round. But then he showed remarkable poise to produce birdies on the 8th and 9th holes to clinch a spot for the weekend on the Blue course of the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda.
Atwal has shown good touch recently, finishing T52 in the Fedex St Jude Classic on the TPC Southwind course in Memphis. He continued his recovery with a couple of good rounds so far this week too.
Atwal shot one under for a second day running to get inside the top 40 in the Quicken Loans National. Arjun is currently 227th on the FedexCup ranking, having hardly played any golf in recent times as he worked his way back from injuries.
On Friday, he started off with seven straight pars before conceding a bogey at the turn on the 18th hole. But he made amends immediately firing birdies at the first and second holes to go one under for the round.
He dropped back to even par with a bogey at the third. Arjun made five pars on the run from there before signing off in style with a birdie at his last hole, the ninth to account for his 70.
Anirban started the day with a birdie at the 10th hole. He remained one under through the 17th hole before dropping back to even, with a bogey at the 18th hole. Even as he was riding on the edge, Anirban suffered a double blow when he conceded bogeys at the 2nd and 7th holes.
With only two holes to play and well below the anticipated cut line, Anirban was under severe duress. But he showed remarkable strength of mind to produce what he needed, two straight birdies to end the day on even terms and inch just inside the cut margin.
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