File photo of Anirban Lahiri.
Anirban Lahiri shot an even par 71 in the first round of the John Deere Classic but with scores going really, the Indian golfer was placed way down at Tied-102nd on the leaderboard.
Lahiri, who had three birdies and one birdie on his first nine, the front stretch of the TPC Deere Run, had three bogeys against one birdie on the second nine.
Once again a little luck on the putting green could have meant a better score as he missed at least three putts between seven and 10 feet, even though he hit 13 of 18 greens in regulation.
Chesson Hadley and Sebastián Muñoz were tied for the lead at 8-under with Camilo Villegas, Hank Lebioda, and Chez Reavie tied for 3rd at 7-under.
Lahiri starting on 10th, birdied the 11th, 14th and 17th and dropped a bogey on 12th. Then he made bogeys on first, third and ninth and the birdie came on second.
Munoz birdied his last five holes from 14th to 18th. Hadley’s 64 was his lowest score on TOUR since 2017. The top Asian was Sung Kang (67) at T-12 alongside Cam Davis, while Sungjae Im (68) was T-29
A week after winning his first PGA TOUR title, Australia’s Cam Davis opened with a 67 to lie four off the lead at the John Deere Classic which provides last the chance to earn a spot into The Open Championship.
The leading player from among the top five at the end of the week earns a trip to the Open Championship if he's not already exempt. Munoz is in the field next week at Royal St. George's. Hadley is not, though with so many low scores, it will take two more days to sort that out. PTI Corr AT
AT
