09 July 2021: Anirban Lahiri is running a race to keep his full status on the PGA TOUR. At 119th on the FedexCup rankings, his immediate goal is to stay inside the top 125 by the end of the Wyndham Championship next month. He played some good golf on Thursday, but a bogey at the ninth, his final hole of the round, dropped him back to even par. Arjun Atwal also showed good touch as he made a matching 71 in the opening round of the John Deere Classic.
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Sebastian Munoz produced a flurry of birdies from 14th through 18th as he came home on five straight birdies to an imposing 63. Chesson Hadley is keeping him company, after shooting his lowest round since 2017.
Hank Lebioda is on a good run, having secured top five finishes in his last two starts on the PGA TOUR. He continued that run with an opening round 64. Camilo Villegas and Chez Reavie went one up on Lebioda, staying bogey free on their cards of 64.
Ryan Moore had a 100% score on greens in regulation on his way to a fluent 65.
Anirban shot 13 of 18 greens in regulation in the first round. He drove it nicely on the 432 yard par-4 11th needing just under 149 yards with his iron. He set it up for the first birdie of the round. After conceding a bogey at the par-3 12th hole, the Indian went back into red territory with a terrific approach shot that left him less than two feet for birdie on the 14th hole.
On the par-5 17th Anirban chipped his third to about eight feet and got the job done for another birdie. He took 34 strokes to work his way through the first nine holes.
A two-putt bogey on the first was a dampener. But it was the bogey at the ninth that dropped Lahiri back to even par for the day.
Arjun started the day with eight straight pars, looking in good touch. He conceded bogeys at nine and thirteen to slip to two-over, but fought back brilliantly from there. He drove 328 yards on the par-4 14th before chipping onto the green for his first birdie.
At the par-5 17th he reached the green in three before nailing a twelve footer to the centre of the cup for his second birdie to secure an even 71.
First-Round Leaderboard
Sebastian Munoz 63 (-8)
Chesson Hadley 63 (-8)
Hank Lebioda 64 (-7)
Chez Reavie 64 (-7)
Camilo Villegas 64 (-7)
Leading Asian/Australian Scores
Cam Davis 67 (-4, T12)
Sung Kang 67 (-4, T12)
Sungjae Im 68 (-3, T29)
C.T. Pan 68 (-3, T29)
Satoshi Kodaira 69 (-2, T52)
Anirban Lahiri 71 (E, T102)
Arjun Atwal 71 (E, T102)
Bogey-free rounds
R1 (11): Chesson Hadley (63), Chez Reavie (64), Camilo Villegas (64), Ryan Moore (65), Doug Ghim (66), Brandon Hagy (67), Harold Varner III (67), Jason Dufner (68), Sungjae Im (68), Seamus Power (68), Daniel Berger (69)
