Edited by Anand Datla
India’s Anirban Lahiri was left to rue a costly double bogey on the last which consigned him to a first round two-over-par 74 at the US$8.5 million WGC-HSBC Champions on Thursday. The five-time Asian Tour winner trails opening round leader Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland by seven shots but is confident of reducing the deficit when he returns to the starting tee at the Sheshan International Golf Club tomorrow.
“Today’s just one of those days where things don’t quite work out. But I don’t have to reinvent the wheel as I’m playing well and I just got to keep that going,” said Lahiri. “I didn’t get the breaks I wanted and it was just those one or two shots that caused me big in the end. I personally feel I played well enough to be in the red and should have got an under-par score today,” added the 27-year-old Indian.
Ranked 73rd in the world, Lahiri stumbled with a bogey in his opening hole. He recovered quickly with a birdie on the second but was pegged back again by another two bogeys on holes four and five. Birdies on seven and 12 then brought Lahiri to even-par before his double-bogey seven on 18 saw him slip to a share of 42nd place that also included marquee names such as Asian Tour honorary member and Major winner, Ernie Els of South Africa and Spain’s Sergio Garcia.
“It was tough starting out the day in the morning as it was really windy but I think I played really well by fighting back. I should have made a few more birdies on my back-nine and I’m really feeling gutted to have finished poorly with a double bogey,” added Lahiri.
McDowell played his first 12 holes in seven under par at Sheshan International but dropped two shots in the last six to card an opening five under par 67 in the second event of The Race to Dubai Final Series. Starting from the tenth, the Ryder Cup star birdied his opening hole and picked up further shots on the 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th to race to the turn in 31, before birdies at the second and third took him well clear of a star-studded field featuring 40 of the Official World Golf Ranking’s top 50.
However, the former US Open champion dropped his first shot of the day on the fourth and paid the price for missing his only fairway of the round on the 603 yard eighth hole. “Obviously the course played fairly difficult today,” said McDowell. “The wind direction had switched completely from practice, some of the game plan had switched a little bit and some of the holes were playing pretty long.
“A big key to this golf course is driving the ball well and I drove it very well today. I think I missed only one fairway, which is very important. The greens are in fantastic shape and I actually putted very well. Seven under par through 12 holes was a beautiful start, and although I dropped a couple coming in, all in all I’m very, very pleased with five under par on what I thought was a reasonably tricky day,” concluded McDowell. “This is as tough off the tee as I think I’ve ever seen this golf course.
Martin Kaymer’s 69 was matched by England’s Tommy Fleetwood to ensure the pair share second place with South African Tim Clark and American trio Rickie Fowler, Chris Kirk and Brandt Snedeker. It continued US Open Champion Kaymer’s impressive record at the venue. “It’s a good start and I really enjoy playing here anyway,” said Kaymer, who shot a final round of 63 on his way to victory in 2011 and also holds the course record of 62.
Lee Westwood and last year’s runner-up Ian Poulter were among an 11-strong group on two under par which included World Number Two Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen and Henrik Stenson.
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