India fall out of contention for golf medals at Jakarta Asiad

Medals look to have slipped out of India’s grasp in the men’s golf competition of the Asian Games in Jakarta.

In the individual event, Rayhan Thomas, Aadil Bedi and Khitij Naveed Kaul all had an off day in tougher scoring conditions compared to their output over the first two days on the Pondok Indah GC greens.

Thomas (73), Bedi (74), Kaul (76) and Hari Mohan Singh (77) were all left fighting to salvage their rounds with Thomas managing best at 73.

In the team standings too, the Boys in Blue fell back in the medal race with a three-day aggregate of 5-under par. They were tied fifth alongside Chinese Taipei after starting the day in the race for silver.

India, who had a total of 12-under from their three best cards to lie second after Friday, were 7-over on Saturday.

Runaway leaders Japan were far ahead of the pack on a 22-under aggregate, five shots better than second placed South Korea and eight ahead of China in third place.

Eighteen-year-old Keita Nakajima continued his impressive form at Jakarta with a third successive sub-par round, hitting a 2-under 70 with five birdies and three bogeys, three shots head of China’s Chen Jing (67).

The day’s round, however, was by Yechun Yuan of China who had eight birdies against one dropped shot. He gained five shots in all on the back nine, birdieing the 11^th, 14^th, 16^th, 17^th and 18^th holes.

Thomas and Bedi are tied 10^th going into the final day on a 3-under par aggregate, seven behind the leader and will hope for a better display to get back among the medals on Sunday.

Lahiri, Tiger make the grade

In New Jersey, Anirban Lahiri made the cut on the number at level par. So did Tiger Woods at the $9 million Northern Trust Championships, the first event on the four-leg FedEx Cup in shared 67^th place, 10 shots adrift of the leaders.

Double major winner Brooks Koepka and Jamie Lovemark were in the lead on 10-under at the Ridgewood Country Club. Lovemark (66) had five birdies in a six-hole stretch around the turn while Koepka turned up the heat on his back nine to card a 6-under round of 65 that included an eagle and three birdies in his last three holes.

Lahiri gained three shots in four holes on his outwards nine but lost them on his way back to the clubhouse while Woods could have birdied every hole till the putter let him down. He hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation or better, but lost three strokes on the field in putting.

In all, Woods needed 35 putts for the round, his worst performance on the greens since the 2015 US Open, where he used 36 putts on the second day and miss the cut. “The name of the game is you’ve got to make putts, and you’ve got to roll it,” he said later.

“No matter how good your drive, you’ve still got to roll them and still got to make putts, and I didn’t putt very well today. I had a hard time seeing my lines, and consequently didn’t make anything.”

Read also: India stay second in men’s team event at Jakarta Asian Games