24 January 2020: Anirban Lahiri continued his grim battle for a reversal in fortunes with a valiant effort in the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open. Despite a one-under 71, marred largely by a double bogey finish on the ninth, Lahiri slipped well below the cut line to exit the Farmers Insurance Open. Ryan Palmer was leading the scores at 10-under with two holes left to play, following on a 72 in the opening round. Brandt Snedeker was creeping up quietly behind him, just one back with three holes to play. Eventually, Snedeker ended the day at 8-under 136, two strokes off the lead.
Ryan Palmer has two top tens this season
A couple of years ago, Palmer lost a playoff in the same event. Midway through the first round, he was three-over before it pulling back to even by the end. On Friday, he knew he needed a few birdies to push away from the knife’s edge. He made a bunch of them, scoring ten for a brilliant 62.
“I knew today when I got out here, the low rounds were out here,” Palmer said. “A good 5-, 6- under par round was to be had. I just took what I had and it turned into a 62. So driving the ball great and I was able to finally get some putts to go in. And the golf course with the par 5s reachable and No. 11 as well, it’s a golf course you can take if you’re hitting it well. ”
J. B. Holmes, Jhonattan Vegas, Sebastian Cappelen and Matthew NeSmith are all in T3 at 7-under midway through the second round. Tiger Woods began with a double bogey before shooting four birdies in five holes at the bend to edge closer to the top ten. Rory McIlroy was inside the top ten midway before ending the day in T17 at 4-under 140. A win this week will wrest him the top ranking from Brooks Koepka. Beau Hossler, Keegan Bradley, Zac Blair, Patrick Reed and Harry Higgs are in T7 at 6-under.
Disappointment for Anirban Lahiri
Anirban was looking set to bounce back when he shot a birdie at the par-4 sixth hole, moving to even par and just one stroke away from the projected cut line. Starting on the tenth tee on Friday, Anirban made four birdies before an untimely bogey at the 18th stalled his momentum. Another bogey at the second pushed him down to two-over before he recovered with that birdie at the sixth.
Unfortunately for the Indian, he was running out of time. And perhaps in trying to force his way on the par-5 ninth hole, Anirban made a fatal error. He went out of bounds with his second shot to suffer a penalty, before reaching the green in five strokes. Eventually he settled for a double bogey to slip out of the weekend rounds.
