Lahiri, Sharma rediscover their mojo, and form, on tour

By Rahul Banerji

The only reply to difficult times on a golf course is to find better numbers, which Anirban Lahiri and Shubhankar Sharma did on Friday.

Playing on either side of the Atlantic, at the Safeway Open and Portugal Masters respectively, both Indian stars dug deep to come up with some answers and survive into the money rounds.

Neither has been in any great form of late. Lahiri was home-bound during the Covid-19 lockdown and missed the cut on his first event back on the PGA Tour after months at the Wyndham Championship.

Sharma has endured a difficult return to competition as well, and his British Swing saw him make just one cut in seven starts, at the Celtic Classic.

In that sense, both men have been seeing some hard times close up and were aware they needed some magic to spark a turnaround.

Vital albatross

Sharma found it first, hammering home an albatross on the par-5 17^th hole at the par-71 Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, Vilamoura, just as it looked as though his opening round was slipping away yet again.

That little bit of 2-iron wizardry, holing a 241-yard second, gave him a three-shot swing and helped contain the damage on a round that had been going southwards rapidly.

It was also Shubhankar’s second albatross in the last two years, the earlier one coming at the Memorial tournament of 2019.

He built on that with a second day 4-under 67 and on Moving Day brought home a 1-under 70 (five birdies, four bogeys) to sit T43, three places down from Friday.

Julien Guerrier of France led the Portugal Masters pack after day two on 14-under 128 (62-66) while old India hand Sihwan Kim was second five shots behind with rounds of 67 and 66.

Reviving memories

Across the Atlantic, Lahiri brought back memories with his first card of 65 in almost a year and a half and returning a 7-under score in almost two years, according to golf writer Joy Chakravarty.

With rounds of 74 and 65, the Bangalorean sits in a share of 54^th place, up 75 places from his first round.

Lahiri is bracketed by two young Indian-Americans, Akshay Bhatia (66-72) in T34th place on 6-under 138, and Sahit Theegala who is alongside on 5-under 139 (71-68).

All three are into the weekend rounds after the cut came at 5-under 139 alongside 70 others from the 156 who had started at the Safeway Open.

Americans Sam Burns on 15-under 129 and Harry Higgs (13-under 131) are on top of the standings as of now with Aussie Cameron Percy and Russel Knox of New Zealand in a share of third place.

Si Woo Kim leads the Asian challenge at Napa with a 9-under 135.

Among those failing to make the Friday cut were Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia and Brandt Snedeker. So was Open champion Shane Lowry, all of them caught out by the lowest cut ever at the Safeway Open.

Also read: India’s golf stars are back in action across the globe