By Rahul Banerji
Former Asia number one Anirban Lahiri moved into the top five with a second solid round in a row at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio on Saturday.
At the ANA Inspiration on the LPGA Tour, however, countrywoman Aditi Ashok was in the wars in California.
Facing hot and windy conditions at Mission Hills, Aditi shared last place alongside two others having made the cut on the line on Friday.
Lahiri though made the most of Moving Day on Saturday at TPC San Antonio, climbing three places to fifth overall.
He is five shots behind co-leaders Jordan Speith and Matt Wallace.
The popular Texan, an 11-time PGA Tour winner gained one spot with rounds of 67, 70 and 67.
Alongside was Englishman Wallace (69-68-67), a four-time European Tour champion is also on 12-under 204.
Between them and Lahiri were 2016 winner Charley Hoffman (10-under 206) and overnight leader Cameron Tringale (8-under 208).
Simplifying matters
Clearly, simplifying his swing has paid off for Lahiri, the only Indian i the field for the week.
The 33-year-old has visibly improved his ball striking and could have been closer to the leaders had at least two birdie putts not gone narrowly astray.
He missed several putts from inside of 12 feet but was still upbeat after carding four birdies against a lone bogey on Saturday.
“I’m really happy with the way I played. I think this is the most solid I’ve played tee to green in a while,” pgatour.com quoted Lahiri as saying.
“I felt really calm and, you know, I kind of knew what I was doing and it’s really nice.
“I do feel like I left quite a few shots out there. I hit it really good.
“So yeah, I think I would have liked to be maybe two, three shots better, but still got a look at it tomorrow.
“If I can go out and do the same things I did today, maybe make a couple more, it would be nice to get in the hunt,” Lahiri said.
After taking last week off, Lahiri entered the week ranked 150th in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green. Through three rounds, he ranks 30th , and seventh in putting.
The two-time Presidents Cup International member has been working on simplifying his swing with long-time coach Vijay Divecha.
‘Getting better’
“I know the results haven’t showed it, but I know I’ve been getting better.
“My ball striking hasn’t been anywhere near my usual standards. I think I just got down to it with my coach.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work back and forth and just trying to simplify things.
“I think I was making things more complicated than they need to be and I think that’s been the key this week. A golf course like this is really good if you can have good strategies and that’s really helped me.”
Since making his PGA Tour debut in 2016, Lahiri, a seven-time winner in Asia, has come close on a few occasions to joining countryman Arjun Atwal as a winner on the PGA Tour.
He holds a career best finish of T2 at the 2017 Memorial tournament but has struggled this year with five missed cuts in seven starts.
Clear task
With Spieth chasing a 12th win and his first since 2017 and Wallace hunting for a maiden title, Lahiri knows he needs a solid performance to stay in the mix on the back nine Sunday.
“I mean, that’s a lot of good players. I’m just going to have to come out with a clear plan on which holes to attack, which holes to kind of be maybe a little more conservative.
“The idea is just to, you know, when you start coming back towards the clubhouse when you get to 15, you want to have a shot at it.
“And quite honestly, that’s my goal. On the homeward stretch, if I can give myself a look, I’m pretty sure I can get it done.”
Sitting pretty
At Rancho Mirage, Thai rookie Patty Tavatanakit opened a five-stroke lead on the field to virtually seal her maiden LPGA title.
Leading by one shot after the first two rounds, the 21-year-old had a 5-under 67 in intense heat to aggregate 14-under 202 in the first major championship of the year.
Defending champion Mirim Lee and Ally Ewing were second at 9 under in the event being played without spectators for the second time in seven months.
Aditi, though, struggled to come to terms with conditions.
A third day round of 3-over 75 to go with earlier cards of 73 and 72 saw her in a tie for 69th and last place with Malaysia’s Kelly Tan and Eun-Hee Ji of South Korea.
Amon the early starters, the Bangalore girl had an early birdie on the oar-4 third hole, but fell away thereafter.
Four dropped shots, two on either side of the turn means that Aditi, 23, will have to pull out her best to make significant progress in the final round in a year she is yet to record a top-10 finish.
Also read: Mid-pack finishes for Sharma, Bhullar at Savannah Classic
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