Anirban Lahiri endured a poor day of ball striking in the opening round of the 147thOpen Championship shooting a birdie-less five-over 76 on Thursday, leaving him with plenty to do in the second round if he has to keep alive his chances.
The Indian’s effort was undermined by tightness in his back, which had reduced his practice round to just two holes on Monday. Most of his mistakes were because he kept pushing his shots right, and a couple of three-putt bogeys didn’t help.
Compatriot Shubhankar Sharma, having teed off in the afternoon in his debut Open, was two-over after 14 holes. Lahiri was tied for 130th place.
American Kevin Kisner was the surprise man on top of the leaderboard, having turned around a recent poor run of form with a five-under par 66 start, taking full advantage of early morning conditions. But the loudest cheers were reserved for Tiger Woods, who was one-under after 13 holes in decidedly tougher afternoon conditions.
Former Open champion Rory McIlroy opened his campaign with a two-under par 69. Defending champion Jordan Spieth dropped four shots in his last four holes to waste a good start for a one-over par 72. Also struggling was world No1 Dustin Johnson, who matched Lahiri’s 76 with a triple bogey seven on the last hole.
‘It was just a poor ball-striking day, and compounded it on the greens. It hurts when you end a round without making a birdie, but I did not give myself many chances of making them today,’ said Lahiri, playing his sixth Open Championship.
‘My misses on an off day are usually towards left, but I was missing it to the right throughout the day. Two or three holes into the round, I started tightening up a little bit. The back got better as the day progressed, but in the middle, I was setting up for my pet draw shot and leaking them right.’
The day did not start on a bright note when his birdie putt on the first hole from 12 feet did a complete horseshoe of the hole and stayed out. He then saw his chip shot on the second hole for birdie shave the edge of the cup, but that too stayed out.
After a par on the third began a stretch of 11 holes where his ball-striking went missing. The worst mistakes came on the ninth and 10th holes. On the ninth, he smashed a three-iron into the fairway bunker, a cardinal sin at Carnoustie, and had to chip out backwards. On the par-4 10th, he pushed his tee shot way right into thick rough and walked off with a double bogey.
However, Lahiri did put up a gutsy display towards the end, making two big par saves on the tough 17th and 18th holes. On the 17th, he sank his biggest putt of the day – a 12-footer – and on the 18th a heroic shot from the fairway bunker led helped save par.
‘I would rather have made a birdie on the last. That would have given me some momentum for tomorrow,’ said a rueful Lahiri. ‘The course is not playing as easy as it was in the morning, because of the wind. There’s definitely harder wind on the back nine. But it’s the same for anymore, so I have to adjust.
‘I need to think of getting in a low one tomorrow. I need to be a little bit more solid off the tees. If I can find more fairways, stay out of the bunkers, I should be fine. I am sure I can make some birdies tomorrow.’
