Ponte Vedra (US): Golfer Anirban Lahiri shot a solid three-under 69 to be tied 27th even as the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass yielded a lot of low scores on the opening day of the PLAYERS Championships here Thursday.
While six players including World No. 1 Dustin Johnson shot a bogey-free six-under 66 and shared the lead with five others, another six players were a shot behind at tied seventh.
However, despite a lot of low scores, some big names struggled and that lot included Phil Mickelson (79), Jordan Spieth (75), Rickie Fowler (74) and Justin Thomas (73) among others. Amidst this Tiger Woods (72) salvaged his round with a closing eagle on the ninth and he was tied 69th.
The leaderboard was crowded with low scores as 14 others shot four-under to be tied 13th and another dozen players, including, Lahiri, carded three-under to be tied 27th.
Lahiri, who exited last year with a disastrous 10 on the final Par-4 18th hole in the second round, got some revenge with a birdie on it. He had six birdies against three bogeys and was bogey-free on the tougher front stretch of the course, which was his second nine.
“No, you’re not going to win this tournament Thursday itself. I’ll take anything in the 60s. If you can stay in the 60s for four days you’ll be fine,” Lahiri said of his first round display.
“I think the course will get tougher on the weekend, but I’m looking forward to going out in the morning (in second round). I’m pretty sure that tomorrow (Friday) morning when we go out it will definitely be a little easier than it was this afternoon,” added the Indian golfer.
Johnson, whose World No.1 position can be taken by four players here if anyone of them wins the title, used a new putting method to ensure a fine score and keep challengers at bay. Sharing the lead with him were Alex Noren, also bogey-free, the 2012 US Open winner Webb Simpson, rookie Chesson Hadley, veteran Matt Kuchar, a past winner at PLAYERS in 2012 and Patrick Cantlay, former world amateur No. 1.