By Rahul Banerji
Continuing his push for redemption at the regular season-ending Wyndham Championship, Anirban Lahiri comfortably made the cut and climbed 10 places on the leader-board in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Friday.
A second blemish-free round of 3-under 67 saw Anirban play some of his best golf of a season that has not really been one to remember for India’s only representative on the flagship PGA Tour. After two days, he sits seven shots off the lead at the $6.2 million event.
While he may not make the grade into the top 125 who automatically retain their tour cards, Anirban will be encouraged by the performances by Canada’s Adam Svensson and Josh Teater of the US.
Both are similarly placed in the rankings as him, but are giving themselves a chance to make it into the FedEx Cup playoffs that begin next week.
The two are currently tied for third on 11-under 129s, two behind leader-board topper Beyong Hun An (62, 65) and a shot shy of second-placed Brice Garnett (64, 64).
Stationary so far
Anirban is currently 178th and stationary so far in the FedEx Cup standings on his two-round aggregate of 134 (67, 67) while Svensson (171) has climbed 28 places to 143rd and Teater (165) is up 29 spots to 136th.
If he continues to putt as he has done so far at the Sedgefield Country Club, Anirban could well give himself an outside chance at pulling off the improbably too.
On Friday, he sank everything from 10 feet, an aspect of his game that has let Anirban down repeatedly through the season. He hit 11 of 14 fairways and 17 of 18 greens in regulation, besides having a hot day on the green.
Follow live action here: Wyndham Championship
On the 529-yard par-5 fifth hole, Anirban Lahiri had a birdie after hitting the green in two and two-putting to go into red figures for the first time on Friday.
He then improved further on the par-4 11th, hitting a 171-yard approach to four feet to set himself up for a second birdie.
On the 545-yard par-5 15th hole, Anirban reached the green in three and sank a three-foot putt for birdie after which he kept a clean sheet for a second bogey-free round in succession.
Svensson had the round of the day with a 9-under 61 and for a while, threatened to be the first this year hit a 69, while first-day joint leader An broke away from the rest with three late birdies in his 65 to follow Thursday’s 62.
Also read: Atwal plays the waiting game; but two big guns go silent at The Open
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