Lahiri shoots 69, makes cut

Jersey City, August 21

India’s Anirban Lahiri shot a 2-under 69 in the second round of the Northen Trust golf tournament to move into the weekend action in the first playoffs of the FedExCup here. At 4-under, he was tied-36th, down 21 places from his overnight tied-15th.

Lahiri, who found 11 of the 18 greens, needs to finish 10th at least to make the next playoff event. He is four strokes outside the top-10 presently, and eight behind leader Jon Rahm of Spain.

Rahm (63-67) reached 12-under as Tony Finau (67-64) was a shot behind in his search for the season-ending Tour Championship berth and a place on the Ryder Cup team.

“To be honest, I’m running a little low on energy and I think it caught up with me towards the end a little bit,” Lahiri said. “Four or five of the last holes, I missed putts from inside pretty much of 15 feet on all of them except for the last hole. I’ve been playing really well I think,” he added.

“Played well yesterday (Round 1) morning in the tough conditions and could have shot two or three better, and today’s conditions were absolutely ideal and the golf course was right there. I got off to a good start and in the middle part of the round, I didn’t take the opportunities that were in front of me. I’ve been playing well and just haven’t quite made as many putts as I need,” he added.

His putter worked early on with conversions of 18 feet and 13 feet but his iron shots left him fighting for pars coming in.

“I’ve put myself in a good position for the weekend. I just need to sharpen up on the greens and maybe get some better greens tomorrow. I feel like I’m playing well. I just need to put 36 holes together and keep pushing my body,” said Lahiri.

Olympics gold medallist Xander Schauffele tied his personal best on the PGA Tour and the course record with a 62 and was in the group at 10-under 132 along with Justin Thomas (69) and Keith Mitchell (64). — PTI

Kapur makes cut after second 70

Prague: India’s Shiv Kapur shot a second straight round of 2-under and moved to 4-under to make the cut at the Czech Masters golf tournament here. Kapur is tied-17th. Things, however, were not so good for SSP Chawrasia (70-75) and Ajeetesh Sandhu (74-73), who missed the cut. Sebastian Soderberg equalled the course record as he fired an 8-under 64 to take the halfway lead.