Anirban Lahiri fights to a 69; Sepp Straka leads with 65

It wasn’t the start Anirban Lahiri may have been hoping for as he started off his campaign in the Corales Championship. After a T36 to open the season in the Safeway Open, Anirban found himself scribbling a triple bogey six on his card on the second hole. Another bogey at the third dropped him to four-over through three holes. The Indian remained unfazed as he worked his way out of the hole with some spectacular golf through the rest of the round for a hard earned 69.

Arjun Atwal also saved his best for the second nine as he worked his way back from a 40 on the way out to score 74. Sepp Straka, Scott Harrington and Hudson Swafford came home on 65 each for a share of the clubhouse lead. Tyler McCumber, who like Straka and Harrington began on the 10th was 8-under through 16 holes, before over hitting the green on the eighth hole.

Straka, playing his third event at the venue, found perfect rhythm. He shot five birdies and an eagle in a spotless effort around the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club.

Yeah, played really well. I hit the ball great, made some good putts and
everything just kind of fell in line today. Hit my irons really good, which is important on this track. You’re going to hit a lot of fairways, fairways are pretty wide, but you’re going to want to hit your irons good because the greens, you can miss it in some bad spots.

Just kind of be patient, just keep plugging along. Today was a great round, but it’s not always – there’s going to be some adversity somewhere, so just try to stay patient and keep trying to make birdies.

Sepp Straka

Lahiri sent his tee shot into the greenside bunker on the par-3 second hole. Unfrotunately for him, the ball refused to release. The Indian battled the sand for three strokes, before finding the cup in six strokes. He found the water on the third before salvaging a bogey. As disappointed as he may have been, Anirban kept his composure and trusted his instincts. At the par-5 4th hole, he reached the green in two before making an eagle to recover two of the lost strokes.

“I missed my tee shot in the deep right hand bunker. Was a pretty simple shot to be honest but misjudged my lie and left it in the bunker and then caught an even more awkward lie in the same bunker,” ruminated Anirban. “Basically compounded an error. Unfortunately these things do happen but it will be important for me to minimize errors rest of the week especially on the par threes. The 4 par threes here will average to around 900 yards daily so it’s critical to play them well for the rest of the week.”

Anirban Lahiri

He nearly repeated the trick on the par-5 seventh hole, but working off the fringe with his third stroke, Anirban settled for a birdie. Anirban added another birdie on the next hole to claw back to even par. The par-3 ninth cost him another stroke though as he made a bogey working his way from the fringe again.

The determined Indian produced a stellar back nine though to finish the day with a three-under 69 for a tie with Akshay Bhatia and a host of other golfers just outside the top 30. Anirban scored four birdies in six holes from the 13th, including a hat-trick to begin that run.

“I had got my rhythm back by the 7th hole, so I just wanted to build some momentum,” Anirban told the Golfing Indian. “The back 9 is definitely the harder or the two nines so I knew I had to keep my focus up. Played quite nicely and gave myself a lot of close looks at birdies. I am happy wit the fight back.”

Anirban Lahiri

Atwal also enjoyed a memorable inward stretch after taking 40 strokes on the front nine. The legendary Indian conceded bogeys on the first and ninth and a painful double on the 8th hole. But he made three birdies on the inward stretch to secure a 73 on his card. But Atwal is outside the top 100 and with low scores dominating the narrative at the Corales Golf Club, he has a job to do in order to force his way into the weekend.

Bogey-free rounds

R1 (12): Sepp Straka (65),  Joseph Bramlett (66), Ricky Barnes (67), Cameron Percy (67), Kyle Stanley (67), David Hearn (67), Zac Blair (68), Robert Streb (68), Charles Howell III (69), Henrik Stenson (70), Keith Mitchell (70), Tim Wilkinson (70)