16 July 2021: His pursuit is relentless. Anirban Lahiri has been in training and on the range far more than in past seasons, as he continues the quest for consistency to compete with the best on the PGA TOUR. The results have been evident in recent weeks, even though he has yet to discover his finest golf. Through 17 holes on Thursday, Anirban was just two back from the leader. But he got wet with his approach on the final hole and settled for a double that dropped him back to 4-under 68. Brian Stuard leads a dozen men by a stroke after carding an opening 64. The first round was suspended late in the day due to darkness.
Monday qualifier, Bobby Bai from China shot a spotless 66 for a remarkable start. He made a brilliant 40-foot birdie putt on the last to cap a memorable day on his first PGA TOUR event in the USA. The 23-year-old qualified to play with a 64 on Monday. He made 12 fairways and 17 greens in regulation.
“I played according to my strategy and I got my birdies on the holes that I planned to attack. The course is a little wet and I can be more aggressive,” said Bai. “I feel my driver is also good today, and my irons and putting were not bad. I hope to keep the momentum tomorrow and I’ll stick to my strategy in the following three days.”
Lahiri made an early move, sinking an eight-footer on the back of a 79-yard approach for his first birdie of the round. The 34-year-old hit 7 of 14 fairways and made 12 of 18 greens in regulation.
His round took orbit at the bend. He made three straight birdies from the eighth before finding the cup from 22-feet for an eagle on the 11th hole to reach six-under. But looking to make one final impression, Anirban found water with his second shot on the 18th taking a double to end the day.
Stuard suffered a bogey on the 18th hole but was unstoppable after making the turn. He made five birdies in six holes adding substantial meat to his card.
“I felt like my iron play was nice today,” Stuard said. “I didn’t think I drove it well, but there’s not a lot of rough so you can kind of attack from anywhere, so that’s what I was able to do.”
“It was a good start, but in all honesty, it doesn’t really mean much,” Stuard added. “I need three more good rounds to put myself in contention, I guess. It’s nice to start off well. I need three more, so just got to keep going.”
There was a crowd sitting on 65. Luke List is in the company of Joseph Bramlett, Ryan Armour, Scott Harrington, J.T. Poston, Vaughn Taylor, David Lingmerth and Taylor Pendrith.
PARTIAL First-Round Leaderboard
Brian Stuard 64 (-8)
Scott Harrington 65 (-7)
J.T. Poston 65 (-7)
Vaughn Taylor 65 (-7)
Leading Asian Scores
Bobby Bai 66 (-6)
Satoshi Kodaira 68 (-4)
Anirban Lahiri 68 (-4)
