Golf: Anirban Lahiri lone Indian to make the cut at French Open

Paris: Anirban Lahiri today went through contrasting emotions on a challenging Le National at the Alstom Open de France here when he finished the first round at two-under 69 and then carded a very disappointing 77 in the second. It left him hanging at four-over 146 and after spending the evening waiting to see whether or not he was going to stay on for the weekend, he managed to squeeze in. [caption id=“attachment_2326940” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Anirban Lahiri. AP[/caption] At four-over 146, Lahiri was tied 56th after being tied fifth at the end of the first round. Rafa Cabrera-Bello (68-70) shared the midway with Victor Dubuisson (68-70) and Germany’s Martin Kaymer (70-70). Five players including Francesco Molinari and Max Keiffer were in tied fourth at three-under. Lahiri, winner of the Malaysian Open and the Hero Indian Open, had a dream start of five-under for his front nine, but then had a disappointing finish to the first round late yesterday as he added a bogey and a double bogey on back nine to finish at 69. The top 65 and ties make the cut. Starting early on the tenth, he had a nightmarish first nine, which was the back nine of the course. He bogeyed the 11th and 13th and then simply collapsed with bogeys on 15th, 16th and 17th and then crashed to a double on 18th for a four -hole stretch that saw him drop five shots. Then when he bogeyed the second, he was eight-over for 12 holes on second day. Yet he picked up birdies on fifth and seventh to give him an outside chance of hanging in for the weekend. Shiv Kapur, who had two holes left to play from his first day, ended the first round with 75 and then shot the same score in the second round and at eight-over the week is certainly over for him very early. Jeev Milkha Singh, whose first 76 included quadruple bogey 8 on par-4 17th, shot 74 in the second and exited early. Jeev was two-under for three holes and then he dropped three shots between seventh and 10th holes and slipped down to six-over for the tournament. Later bogeyed 17th and 18th for his 74. PTI