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Asian Games golf: Aditi Ashok tied second; Lahiri T9 after first round
India’s top woman golfer shot a bogey-free 67 to be two shots off the leader at Hangzhou.
Anirban Lahiri said he missed his regular caddie on the bag after a sensational round got ruined by a last-hole double bogey in the opening round of the 19th Asian Games.
With five straight birdies in a bogey-free round, Lahiri had moved to 9-under par after 17 holes, but against the run of play, dumped his second shot on the par-4 18th of Westlake International into the water from a bad lie.
That saw him slide down to finish at seven-under par 65 on a low-scoring day. Shubhankar Sharma made just one mistake, which was also for a double bogey in his four-under 68, while veteran SSP Chawrasia had an eagle on the par-5 17th and was five-under through his last seven holes in a 67.
Khalin Joshi’s two-under par 70 did not count towards India's tally of 16-under par in the team competition. They were tied fifth with Korea the runaway leaders with a sparkling 26-under par aggregate. Despite the presence of Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim, it was amateur Yubin Jang who set the pace with an 11-under 61.
In the women’s competition, Aditi Ashok lived up to her star billing, compiling a bogey-free five-under 67 to be in a five-way tie for second. Japan’s amateur Baba Saki, 18, led after the first round at seven-under 65. Pranavi Urs made a couple of bogeys coming in to drop to tied 17th at one-under 71, while Avani Prashanth was T-21 at even-par 72.
In the team competition, Indian women were tied fifth at 6-under par total, four behind Japan and hosts China. Lahiri, who travelled 39 hours from Chicago -- he played in the LIV Golf event that ended on Sunday – across 15 time zones and could not play more than 13 holes on Wednesday due to jet lag and tiredness, said: “Feeling way better. I’m thankful that the sun never came out today, which was a big part of my getting through the 18 holes without having any major issues with my energy.
“It was a little bit of a struggle in the early part of the round though I did get off to a good start. The greens are something I’m still trying to adjust to. I finally kind of got some rhythm going on that back nine, but yes, bummed to finish the way I did.”
The players have been forced to use local caddies, and Lahiri, coming off back-to-back second finishes in LIV Golf, said he missed his regular bagman, Tim Giuliano.
“It’s been a while since I’ve played without him. I mean, I’m quite comfortable with a new caddie. But sometimes you get into a gnarly situation and need to make a decision like I did on 18. That’s when you really miss a sounding board. Tim knows my game very well and I am sure he’d have had some logical and knowledgeable input into my club selection,” said Lahiri.
Ashok started from the 10th tee with seven straight pars, and like Lahiri, struggled to get to terms with the greens. “I started off really well, but I couldn’t really hole anything. Then I knocked one really close on the 18th and that helped. When you’re not holing putts, it’s good to have a short one,” said the world No. 47.
“After that I built some confidence and kept hitting it well and holed a couple more. I didn’t have the pace of my putts good today. I missed a few that were good reads but just fell off-line in the end. So, hopefully, I can work on hitting them firmer tomorrow.” The second round is scheduled for Friday.
