September 22, 2016: SSP Chawrasia (68) was in great form today in the Porsche European Open. The man from Kolkata played some spectacular golf on the opening day of the marquee European Tour event at the Bad Griesbach Golf Resort in Germany. He was up to second at one juncture before a couple of late bogeys dropped him down to T20. Anirban Lahiri (68) on the other hand produced a pair of late birdies to end the first day in a tie with Chawrasia.
Anirban Lahiri, returning from an injury layoff, also got off the blocks with a flourish. The 89th ranked Indian golfer was three under through his opening four holes.
Anirban made a hat-trick of birdies from the eleventh hole, but bogeys at the 15th and 18th holes stalled his progress. He made the turn in 35 strokes.
Lahiri snatched a stroke back from the course with a birdie at the second hole, pushing himself back into the top 20. Though he suffered a bogey at the fourth, he shot birdies at the 6th and 8th holes to end the day on a positive note.
Chawrasia also started on the tenth hole, as did Anirban, making a birdie at the eleventh hole. He added back to back birdies at the 16th and 17th holes to assert his presence inside the top ten.
Chawrasia made another birdie at the first hole to plant himself inside the top five. The 38 year old moved up to second place with a birdie at the fifth hole, but bogeys at the seventh and ninth holes dropped him down the order.
Bernd Wiesberger produced a definitive round of 63 to snatch a three shot lead over Steve Webster, Daniel Im, Lucas Bjerregaard and Michael Jonzon.
A dozen men scored 67 on Thursday, with a few more golfers still on the course with an opportunity to add to this lengthy list. Michael Hoey, Graeme Storm, Nicolo Ravano, Tom Lewis, Florian Fritsch, Joakim Lagergren, Raphael Jacquelin, Maxmilian Kieffer, Matthew Baldwin, Marcel Schneider, Prom Meesawat, Max Rottluff and Benjamin Herbert were all part of this group.
