New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS) India’s Anirban Lahiri will have his father to thank if he continues to put up another commanding performance at the SAIL-SBI Open, where he is leading the pack after round two.
Lahiri’s decision to switch to a belly putter due to his father’s persistent nagging paid off when he posted a three-under-par 69 to take the second round lead at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) here Thursday.
Thailand’s Prom Meesawat blitzed the tree-lined course with a 64 to take second place on eight-under-par 136 while India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar and Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg are a further shot back in equal third on 137.
Lahiri, who earned his career breakthrough at the DGC last season, continued his charge for his second Asian Tour title after another inspired round that was aided by a hot putter in his bag.
“My dad started to harp on me to use the belly putter because he is always up at night watching the guys on the PGA Tour playing with the belly putter on television. It got to the point where I just gave in to him and I thought I give it a try,” said Lahiri.
“As my putting with my short putter got worse, I decided to make the switch to the belly putter in Hong Kong last year. Since then, I have worked a lot on my techniques with it and so far it is getting better. Hopefully it keeps going in that direction,” added the Indian.
While the 23-year-old may have taken pole position with a two-shot cushion, he knows that the contest is far from over given the quality of his closest rivals.
Prom continued his resurgence by marking his card with nine birdies against a lone bogey to record the day’s lowest score of 64.
The Thai, who started the day in tied-45th place following an opening 72, opened strongly with two birdies.
He carded another birdie on the eighth hole but dropped his only shot of the day at the par-four ninth.
Prom then storm home with a birdie blitz where he marked his card with birdies on holes 11, 12, 14, 16, 17 and 18.
Karlberg got off to the best of starts with two birdies in his opening three holes. However, he returned those two shots with bogeys on the 14th and 16th holes.
After turning in 36, the two-time Asian Tour winner birdied the par-five first but bogeyed holes four and five.
The Swede however staged a strong comeback with three birdies in his closing four holes coming home.
Bhullar meanwhile enjoyed a bogey-free round of 69 to put himself in a good position to end a two-year title drought at the course where he has never won before.
A total of 65 players made it into the weekend rounds where the cut was set at one-over par.
The SAIL-SBI Open is the second of the four events scheduled to be played in India on the Asian Tour in the current season.
Scores after Round 2:
134 – Anirban Lahiri (IND) 65-69.
136 – Prom Meesawat(THA) 72-64.
137 – Rikard Karlberg (SWE) 67-70, Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND) 68-69.
138 – Manav Jaini (IND) 68-70, Vinod KUMAR (IND) 70-68.
139 – Shamim Khan (IND) 71-68, Scott BARR (AUS) 71-68, Atthaphon PRATHUMMANEE (THA) 71-68.
140 – Mithun Perera (LKA) 71-69, Namchok Tantipokhakul (THA) 74-66, Rahil Gangjee (IND) 73-67, Chapchai Nirat (THA) 70-70, Thaworn Wiratchant (THA) 69-71, Ben Fox (USA) 70-70.
141 – Martin Rominger SUI) 72-69, Randhir Ghotra (IND) 70-71, P. Ghulfam (IND) 73-68, Shiv Kapur (IND) 70-71, Siddikur (BAN) 74-67, Scott Hend(AUS) 68-73, Ron Harvey Jnr (CAN) 66-75, Harmeet Kahlon(IND) 70-71, Abhinav Lohan (IND) 70-71.
