Dubai based Anirban Lahiri (Ind) shot a second round five under par 66 for a total of seven under par 135 to lead by four shots in the 54-hole $25 million LIV Golf Andalucia at Real Club Valderrama, Spain.
Over the challenging 7,010 yards par 71 course, Lahiri, 37 years old, who represents the Crushers GC started on hole two in the shotgun start and had six birdies and just one bogey for the joint-best round of the day.
His second round was fueled by a hot putter, as he led the field in putting stats with an average of 1.28 strokes per hole and also led the scrambling stats getting down 7 times out of 8 at 87.50%.
“It bailed me out big time today,” Lahiri said of his putter. “Didn’t help to chip like a 15 handicapper. Valderrama makes you look like that. It’s so hard to chip out here, whether you’re on the fairways or the roughs. It takes a lot of skill. In fact, I need to go and hit some chips now.”
Asked about his approach to the final round with the lead, he responded, “It doesn’t really matter on this golf course. You have to go out and every day you have to battle it out. You have to have a good attitude. You’re going to get some bad breaks. Every time you get an opportunity, you have to try and convert it.
“It’s about patience. I had a lot of putts go in today. They may not tomorrow but I’ll still stay patient and have the same attitude,” he added.
“It is a difficult golf course to catch up. So, for me, you know, as long as I can keep it in the fairways and greens, which is much easier said than done here, that’s obviously going to be my goal.
“The win would mean a lot,” said Lahiri, whose family arrived in town and will be cheering him on Sunday. “I’ve been chasing it for a while.”
Lahiri’s Crushers also lead the Team Event at seven under par with support from Captain Bryson DeChambeau, Paul Casey and John Catlin, who is replacing Charles Howell III for this week as he recovers from a leg injury.
They have a four-shot lead from home favourites, Fireballs GC, captained by Sergio Garcia.
The final round will take place today (Sunday) with the shotgun start at 1.05 pm with Lahiri in the final double-up group at 1.16 pm off tee one along with Martin Kaymer (Cleeks GC) and Danny Lee (Iron Heads GC).
For the Team Event the best three scores from the team of four counted for the team score for the first two rounds.
For the final round, all four scores count for the team score.
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Leading Second Round Scores
(Par 71, 7010 Yards)
Individual
Lahiri (Crushers GC) 69. 66. 135.
Lee (Iron Heads GC) 67. 72. 139.
Eight Players on two under par, 140.
Team
CRUSHERS GC -7.
FIREBALLS GC -3.
STINGER GC –