Ponte Vedra Beach: India's Anirban Lahiri produced a stunning eagle, four birdies and a bogey at THE PLAYERS Championship to finish one stroke behind clubhouse leaders Tommy Fleetwood of England and Tom Hoge of the US on a weather-hit Thursday, which endured a four hour, 15 minute suspension due to thunderstorms.
The 34-year-old Indian, who credited a career-low round of 5-under 67 here to 3.5 grams of weight added to his irons ahead of the PGA TOUR's flagship tournament, concluded his round in near darkness.
Sixty-nine of 72 players in the morning session completed the first round and 60 of 72 players in the afternoon wave began the first round on Thursday (none completed).
"It feels really good," said Lahiri after the amazing round. "It was nice to actually make some of the momentum putts. Obviously a big bonus when you see a ball disappear from the middle of the fairway. That was really nice on six. I think today's (Thursday's) round was very close to how I've been playing the last few weeks. The only difference was I managed to keep it clean, and a couple of times that I got out of position, I managed to save par. It's very satisfying. Been working hard on trying to clean up my game, so it was nice to see it come together," the Indian told the PGA Tour.
The demanding Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass has not been a happy hunting ground for Lahiri, as, in the previous five appearances at THE PLAYERS he has missed four cuts and finished tied-74th in 2019. He has also been disappointed with his form all season, as in 12 starts he has missed seven cuts and has a tied-40th for his best finish.
However, Lahiri's game fell in place on Thursday and he credited his first-round exploits to the added weight to his irons.
"I think the biggest difference was we made a change to the irons this week. I changed the weight, and the irons have been my weak link, and they came out much better. I feel like my confidence is getting better, which is really positive," said Lahiri, who is seeking his maiden win on the PGA TOUR in what is his seventh season in the US.
"It's really something that's minor. I've added maybe 3 1/2 grams of weight to all of my irons. It sounds like inconsequential, but it almost makes a 10, 12-yard difference in our line. These last couple of weeks especially we've been playing really tough golf courses, and you hit it four or five yards offline and you can make six instead of three. And I had a lot of that happen to me.
"So it's frustrating when you know you're not making bad swings and you're not getting the results you want, so it's equally satisfying when it comes together like this."
Following a tough 12-hour day at the course in the USD20 million PGA TOUR showpiece, Lahiri said he was happy that he will be able to enjoy a good night's sleep, safely making par on his last hole, the ninth, in near darkness.
"It's pretty much pitch dark. It was nice to get it in because that weather is not looking nice for tomorrow. It's probably going to be worse than today. The last thing I want to do is wake up at 5:00 and come out and wait to hit two shots or three shots and don't know when you're going to do that either because overnight we're going to get rain, too. So glad to have finished my round," he said.
