Melbourne: Anirban Lahiri missed out on a chance to make his way into the top 10 at the halfway stage, as he had a sloppy finish in the second round of the World Cup of Golf here on Friday.
Lahiri, a three-time winner on the Asian Tour, shot a one-under 70 despite two late bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes at the challenging Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
Lahiri, who carded 72 on the first day, opened the round with a bogey on first, but over the next eight holes he birdied four times on the second, fifth, eighth and ninth holes. Then following a string of pars, he bogeyed twice on the 16th and 17th to finish tied 15th at the end of round two.
With winds swirling around the magnificent Royal Melbourne, scoring was not too easy.
Lahiri, at even par 142, is tied alongside the likes of Ryo Ishikawa (71-71), Vijay Singh (73-69) and Miguel Angel Jimenez (73-69).
Lahiri is eight shots behind leader Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, who followed up his first round 66 with a 68 in second round.
“(I am) a little disappointed with how I finished with two bogeys in the end. I think I played better than my score,” admitted Lahiri.
“I think I played much better than yesterday. I hit it quite good starting out, made some putts but didn’t finish well. Even par is not a bad place to be going into the weekend,” he added.
For the second day in succession, Lahiri’s team mate Gaganjeet Bhullar, struggled. After a first round 82, he carded a 77 and is dead last.
This is Lahiri’s second week at Royal Melbourne after last week’s missed cut outing at the Australian Masters and the Indian said it was one of those courses where one had to keep grinding it out.
The gritty 42-year-old Bjorn, meanwhile, bogeyed his first and last holes but was rock solid in between as he rolled in five birdies to finish with an eight-under total of 134, one ahead of joint overnight leader Kevin Streelman of the United States.
Matt Kuchar’s solid 68 held the USA take the lead for team honours, however, on 10-under, three strokes ahead of Denmark, who besides Bjorn, are represented by Thorbjorn Olesen, who hit a 72. (Agencies)
