By Rahul Banerji
Anirban Lahiri brought home a level-par 72 for a share of 43rd place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando on Thursday.
Now a Floridian by residence, Lahiri swapped birdie for bogey on his outbound nine and then kept a clean sheet to sit six shots behind leaders Rory McIlroy and Canada’s Corey Connors.
Lahiri, who has not been in the best of form did make the cut at the Puerto Rico Open won by South Africa’s Branden Grace last week, and will want that to extend that run.
The lone Indian in the field, Lahiri’s lone birdie on the day came at Bay Hill’s par-5 fourth hole, a chipped third shot leaving him with a tap-in.
Lahiri was to however, give that advantage back two holes later when he found the water with his drive on the par-5 sixth, and did well to recover from there.
Korea’s Byeong Hun An was the top Asian on the day with a solid 4-under 68 to lie in tied fourth place, the PGA Tour said.
The 29-year-old, who has made the cut in his last five starts at Bay Hill, has three successive birdies on his back nine to end the day two behind McIlory and Conners.
US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau was a further stroke back in third place in a 5-under 67.
Another Korean, Sungjae Im, also had a solid day, his 69 highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 16th. Im finished top-three in the last two years here.
Mixed day
Asia’s other representatives endured mixed days with Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan carding a 74 while Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond had 75s
An, winless on the PGA Tour, had three birdies against two bogeys on his outward nine. He then sank putts of eight, 11 and four feet on four, fibe and six to climb the leaderboard.
“I hit it good and putted good,” the former US Amateur winner said later.
“Overall I am happy that I didn’t hit any balls in the water.
“I think that’s a big thing here, there’s some water out there that’s in play, but I didn’t lose any balls and I made some good birdie putts.
“So I was able to keep the momentum going on the back nine. Had a good save on the last.”
Im, 22nd on the FedExCup points list, nailed a seven iron approach from 193 yards to nine feet on 16for his eagle.
He also converted putts of 17 and 22 feet to stay on the leaders’ heels.
Former FedEx Cup winner McIlroy is yet to win on the PGA Tour since the 2019 WGC-HSBC Champions in China.
After a 35 on his front nine, the Northern Irishman sank five consecutive birdies to grab his 16th first round lead/co-lead.
“It was good,” the former world no. 1 said later.
‘Great start’
“Sixty-six is a great way to start but the first few holes were a little slow going and I made a really good birdie on 14 and that sort of got the round going.
“Coming off last week where I really struggled on the par-3s, and today I played them in 3-under par, so quite a turnaround.
“I played well and hit some really good shots, some good drives and I saw a lot of really positive signs out there today, which is really encouraging,” said McIlroy, who has 18 PGA Tour titles.
No American has won the Arnold Palmer Invitational since 2015; and of the top 14 on the leaderboard after Thursday, 10 were from outside the US.
Also read: Lahiri takes share of 11th place at Bermuda C’ship
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