Charlotte, North Carolina, 11-08-2017
Anirban slips to tied 46th after second round of 73
Anirban Lahiri endured a poor front-nine before making a timely recovery on the back-nine to find himself in the money rounds of the PGA Championship. The Indian star posted a two-over-73 in the second round that took his total to three-over-145 and placed him tied 46th.
Anirban (72-73), playing in his fourth successive PGA Championship, slipped 13 places from his overnight tied 33rd as most of his putts from inside 10 feet refused to drop for the second day running.
The joint lead was held by American Kevin Kisner and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama at eight-under-134.
In a striking similarity to his first round, Lahiri once again made his recovery on the back-nine. He followed up his four bogeys on the front-nine with two birdies on the back-nine including one on the closing 18th.
Later, the course was evacuated on account of dangerous weather conditions and about one hour and 40 minutes’ play was lost. Play was suspended because of darkness and 26 players will come back on Saturday morning to complete their second rounds.
“I hit the ball even better than yesterday (the first round), but again I had a start where I missed a 3-4 footer for par and began with a bogey. I just didn’t make any putts once again. Other than the two birdies I made, remaining putts didn’t drop,” Lahiri said.
Through the day, Anirban missed five putts inside 10 feet, one of them inside four feet.
“My hitting from tee to green was very good and it has been so of late but I have not made much on the greens. I missed only three fairways in the second round and four in the first round. That should have got me better scores, because if you miss the green, it is difficult to chip at times. I gave myself chances but missed a whole lot of putts,” he added.
Lahiri started the second round by dropping a shot on the first hole. He managed to hold pars on the next four, but then came a disastrous stretch with bogeys from the seventh to the ninth.
At the turn he was four-over for the day and five-over for the tournament.
However, Lahiri managed to bounce back in the second half of his round for the second straight day.
He found his first birdie on 12th and then followed that up with five pars. On the final hole, he hit a great approach shot to eight feet to wrap up the day with a birdie.
Anirban said, “Walking off the 17th, I knew I was four-over and the cut was likely around that number. But I was not getting defensive. So, on the 18th, I hit a good tee shot and I was in between clubs for the second and I picked the right club and got to eight feet to hole the putt.”
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