Anirban Lahiri off to a good start at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters
Anirban Lahiri carded a one-under par 71 in the opening round of the Mercuries Taiwan Masters, to share the seventh place on the leaderboard, on Thursday, September 27, 2012.
It was overall a decent performance, considering the fact that the tournament is being played on the difficult Taiwan Golf & Country Club.
There were only 12 players who were successful in beating the par mark. Therefore, Lahiri was really pleased with his performance on day one.
The Indian golfer is now five strokes behind the leader Lien Chi-Wei of Chinese Taipei, who signed his scorecard with a sparkling six-under par 66.
Chi-Wei’s performance was something out of the box, as his nearest rivals were holding a score of a two-under par 70. A lead of four strokes, in such challenging conditions, is praiseworthy.
Chiragh Kumar was the second highest-placed player from India. He was tied for the 22nd position after posting a one-over par 73.
Gaganjeet Bhullar, who was expected to make a strong start to his campaign in Taipei, failed the challenge offered by the course and carded a three-over par 75, for a shared 53rd position.
Himmat Rai and Ajeetesh Sandhu were the other two Indian players who joined Bhullar on the leaderboard after recording 75s on their scorecards.
Lahiri, who won the SAIL-SBI Open early this year, said that he was happy to perform well in difficult playing conditions.
"I'm really happy with the way I played. It was tough and the wind was really strong. We played in a little bit of rain early in the round. Conditions are really tough. You got to grind the whole day. I scrambled well and made a lot of up-and-downs," said
Lahiri.
The Indian star, who currently ranks 10th in the Asian Tour Order of Merit, recorded a 36 on the front nine and added a shot on the back nine to end the round on a high note.
"I didn't drop any shots on the back nine and that was the key for me,” the two-time Asian Tour winner said.
He has been working on his short game and he believed his efforts paid him off during his performance in round one.
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