Report by Anand Datla
May 01, 2015: Anirban Lahiri showed great mettle for a second day running at the WGC Match Play event in San Fransisco. He fought tooth and nail with world number six Justin Rose before losing on the 19th hole. Thongchai Jaidee produced a superb 3 & 1 victory over world number five Jim Furyk at the WGC-Cadillac Match Play on Thursday to keep alive his hopes of progressing into the round of 16.
Lahiri, who defeated Ryan Palmer in his first match, never trailed in his match against Rose until losing to the Englishman’s birdie on the first extra hole. (Latest Golf News)
The plucky Indian star, who is the current Asian Tour number one, led one-up with one to play but Rose, who lost in his opening match, produced a closing birdie to send the match into extra time.
The former US Open champion then produced another birdie on the first extra hole to close out the match. Lahiri will now need to defeat Australian Marc Leishman on Friday to have any hope of getting into the knockout round of last 16.
“It was a battle all day. That was the first time I was up on any two days (on the 19th hole). That was a nice one to pull out,” said Rose. “Anirban is a great putter. The first hole, I looked like I had it won comfortably but he produced a 30 footer and on the next hole, he holed a 40-footer which I knew was going to be a touch match.”
Lahiri birdied three of his first five holes to take a 2-up lead, held a 1-up lead at the turn, and maintained the advantage well into the back nine as holes 10-14 were all halved. Rose squared the match with a 9-footer for birdie on No. 15, and he countered Lahiri’s birdie on the following hole with a match-extending birdie on the par-5 18th. The Englishman birdied the first extra hole from 4 feet for the win, evening his record this week at 1-1.
“You just have to play hard and hope for the best,” said Rose. “If you do lose a game, you need a bit of good fortune to get through.”
After an opening day loss to Martin Kaymer, Thai veteran Thongchai, a three-time Asian Tour number one, needed a win against Furyk and he duly delivered with an impressive performance which saw him go five-up on the American at the turn.
Former Major winner Furyk rallied late on the back nine, winning holes 10, 11, 15 and 16 to get claw back to 2-down but Thongchai closed him out with a par on the 17th hole. With Kaymer losing to George Coetzee on the 19th hole, Thongchai’s group is now wide open as all four players have one win and one loss each.
Thongchai said: “He tried to catch up and he played well on the back nine. I was five up after nine holes. We made only a few bogeys and there was pressure on the back nine. He putted well with three birdies on the back nine for his comeback. But on 17, he pushed his show and I managed to win. It’s a good win for me.”
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