NICHOLASVILLE: India’s Anirban Lahiri fired a fine 4-under 68 despite a closing double bogey after a trip into the lake in the first round of Barbasol Championship, a PGA Tour event played in the same week as The Open in UK.
Lahiri was tied 31 on a day when play was stopped twice due to dangerous weather conditions and finally suspended owing to darkness with 30 players yet to complete their first round.
Brian Stuard led the field with 6-under 64 and he was followed by nine players at 7-under 65 with three more at 7-under with a few more holes to play.
Interestingly Stuard’s lone win on the PGA Tour came in a weather-shortened 54-hole Zurich Classic in 2016.
Lahiri opened in style with birdies on first and third, but had a bogey in between.
While the Indian found only 50 per cent of the fairways he did get to the greens on 12 of the 18.
After an 8-foot birdie on the first, he had a bogey on the second, but rolled in a nice birdie from just under 10 feet on the third.
Then came the super stretch with three birdies and an eagle from 8th to 11th.
Lahiri reached the green in three and sank a 10-foot putt for birdie on the 567-yard par-5 eighth hole to get to 2-under.
At the par-3 ninth, Lahiri hit his tee shot 191 yards to the green and rolled a 30-foot putt for birdie and rose to 3-under.
He followed up with another birdie on 10th.
On 11th, a great tee shot followed by a fine approach he was 21 feet from the cup and he rolled it in for an eagle and moved to 6-under with seven holes to go on a golf course yielding low scores.
Six pars later he went into the water with his second shot on Par-4 18th and took a penalty.
Hitting his fourth from the rough he also missed a bogey putt from eight feet to finish with a bitter double at the finish.
Defending champion Jim Herman opened with a 5-under 67.
Other notable scores included Jason Dufner (67), Josh Teater (69), Hudson Swafford (70), John Daly (76).
Monday Qualifier Bobby Bai posted a bogey-free 6-under 66.
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