Rio Olympics 2016: Golfers Anirban Lahiri, SSP Chawrasia register topsy-turvy start

Rio de Janeiro: India’s Anirban Lahiri and SSP Chawrasia had a topsy-turvy start to their campaign at the Rio Olympics as they carded a three-over 74 and even-par 71 respectively in the opening round of the golf competition on Thursday. Asian Tour No 1 Lahiri and India Open champion Chawrasia were tied 49th and tied 27th respectively on day one as golf returned to the Olympics after 112 years. Lahiri dropped five bogeys against a couple of birdies, while Chawrasia’s four birdies were erased by his four bogeys as the duo found it difficult to tame the Olympic golf course. [caption id=“attachment_2950954” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Anirban Lahiri in action on Day 6 of the Rio Olympics. AP[/caption] At the top, Australia’s Marcus Fraser fired a sizzling eight-under 63 to lead the clubhouse, followed by Canada’s Graham Delaet (66) and Thomas Pieters (67). Lahiri did not have a good day in office as he started with a bogey and then stumbled on two more bogeys at the sixth and eighth holes to make the turn at three-over. On his resumption journey, Lahiri lost a couple of strokes at the 11th and 12th holes before he produced two birdies at the 15th and 18th holes to end the day on a positive note. Chawrasia too had a topsy-turvy day as he picked up two birdies at the second and fifth holes before dropping a shot at the seventh to lie one-under after the front nine. The Kolkata-born golfer had a disappointing back nine as he initially let the advantage slip with three bogeys at the 10th, 12th and 13th holes against a birdie at the 11th. But a birdie at the final 18th hole helped him end on an even-par.