Lahiri two shots behind leaders at Palm Beach

Palm Beach (US), February 25 

India ace golfer Anirban Lahiri has once again given himself a shot at the title, as he lied fourth at the midway stage of the Honda Classic on the PGA Tour.

The 28-year-old Indian, who opened the week with a five-under 65, added a two-under 68 to get to seven-under. He was only two shots behind co-leaders, Ryan Palmer (66-65) and Bryan Wesley (64-67), while Rickie Fowler (66-66) was eight-under and third. Lahiri, who will return to India for the Hero Indian Open after this week, said, “I think condition-wise, yesterday was about as good as you would get for afternoon conditions. This morning was really nice. I think they have been good to us with ball-in-hand (preferred lies). There’s so much mud on the fairways, you don’t want to get penalised for that.”

“So I think that helps the scoring a little bit. I played solid, I think in both rounds. Yesterday, I made a lot more putts than today. The back nine today, I could have easily made two or three putts for birdies, but I was happy nonetheless,” he said.

Lahiri was also calmer and happier as Palm Beach is home for him as this is his base in the US. “It’s fun. It’s beginning to feel like home. I’m sleeping in my own bed. I’m just down the road here in PGA National. I live here. I don’t play regularly out here but I do live here. So it feels like a home event,” he added.

“I think I’m really relaxed this week. It helps that I’m sleeping in my own bed. It’s three minutes to get to the venue. I’m loving the weather here. It’s really nice. I’m really relaxed,” he said.

Lahiri was looking good at midway stage even last week, but faltered over the weekend. “I mean, last week was a bit of a mess, just in terms of the weather. I had four wake-up calls at 4 am. I was trying to get over a 16-hour time difference. I was tired, I was jet-lagged. So I think this week, the body feels a lot better.” — PTI