September 12, 2015: In a sensational jump to second on the leaderboard, Anirban Lahiri played a dream round of golf to surge into contention at the Hotel Fitness Championship on the Web.com Tour. The 40th ranked Indian pieced together a string of brilliant putts to post 7-under 65 at the Sycamore Hills Golf Club.
Lahiri wasn’t lining up his tee shots very well on Friday, but that did not matter with the putter working like a wand. “If I can keep putting like that, it works,” Lahiri told the media just after his round.
At 10-under, Lahiri is tapping on the heels of Jamie Lovemark, who shot 66 to enjoy the halfway lead. September is turning out to be an important month for Lahiri, who is playing the Web.com Tour Finals in a last minute bid to earn his PGA TOUR card.
With the Presidents Cup on the top of his list, Lahiri has committed to play three of four events in the Finals series. He will miss the Web.com Tour Championship, as he flies away to Korea in order to prepare for his Presidents Cup debut.
It is in these three events that he plays that Lahiri needs to secure his position inside the top 25 of the Finals money list. A victory in Fort Wayne could ease the pressure off the young Indian’s shoulders and allow him to play with freedom over the next few weeks.
Having played a limited schedule this season, primarily on the strength of his ranking and exploits on the European Tour, Anirban is eager to seal his card for next season.
“You know the effort is going to be there,” emphasised Lahiri. “I’m in a decent position. We’re only halfway there, and I have to make a lot of birdies over the weekend, because the course is gettable.”
“I don’t know how the weather is going to be, but I think it was good to get a low one in on a day like today, because it wasn’t particularly easy.”
It was an interesting stitch from Lahiri, who needed 32 putts in the 69 he made on Thursday. The Indian showcased why he is such a thinking man’s golfer by buckling down to address that weakness on Friday. And he did so in sensational style, taking just 22 putts to get through his second round.
“Yesterday, I kind of struggled with the pace on the greens,” analysed Lahiri. “I kind of hit it firmer than I should have. Today, I slowed down my tempo a little bit to adjust. Also, the rain probably slowed it down just a little bit. I had the pace spot-on today, and that helped.”
If the putting remains addressed for the weekend, it could be a major boost to the Indian’s chances at a PGA Tour card. The hardworking Indian was seen spending time on the range, to primarily work on his swing – underlining the need to do better than the 50% mark he made in fairways made on Friday.
“I didn’t play golf for almost a week after I went back (to India) after the PGA, and I haven’t really hit that many golf balls, because I was trying to recover some energy,” Lahiri said. “I’m just trying to pace myself out. But obviously the work needs to be done, and I’m going to go to the range and probably fix that.”
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