Anirban Lahiri shot a solid three-under 69 to be Tied-27 even as the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass yielded a lot of low scores on the opening day of the Players Championships here on Thursday.
While six players, including World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, shot a bogey-free six-under 66 to share the lead with five others, another six were a shot behind at T-7.
However, despite a lot of low scores, some big names struggled and that lot included Phil Mickelson (79), Jordan Spieth (75), Rickie Fowler (74) and Justin Thomas (73) among others. Tiger Woods (72) salvaged his round with a closing eagle on the ninth and he was T-69.
Lahiri, who exited last year with a disastrous 10 on the final par-4 18th in the second round, got some revenge with a birdie on it.
He had six birdies against three bogeys and was bogey-free on the tougher front stretch of the course, which was his second nine.
Lahiri’s 69 was also his first round in the 60s at the Players, where he has missed the cut in both previous appearances in 2015 and 2017.
“No, you’re not going to win this tournament on Thursday. I’ll take anything in the 60s. If you can stay in the 60s for four days you’ll be fine,” said Lahiri.
“I think the course will get tougher on the weekend”.
Sharing the lead with Johnson were Alex Noren, 2012 US Open winner Webb Simpson, rookie Chesson Hadley, 2012 Players champion Matt Kuchar and Patrick Cantlay, former World Amateur No. 1.
