Anirban Lahiri starts with 68, lies 20th in CJ Cup

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Jeju Island (Korea), October 19: India's Anirban Lahiri had a mixed outing with a three-under 69 card that put him at a modest tied 20th spot at the end of the first round of the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges golf tournament, the first PGA TOUR event staged in South Korea.

Meanwhile, Justin Thomas, who had a modest week in Kuala Lumpur, landed two eagles in his nine-under 63. Thomas led the field by three as five players, Chev Reazie, Gavin Green, Scott Brown, Marc Leishman and Patrick Reed carded six-under 66 each. Lahiri opened the day with a bogey on 10th, but got that shot back with a birdie on 14th. The rest were pars as he turned in even par.

Birdies on first, third and 17th gave him a fair start of three-under. "It was a good three-under I would say. I got off to a bad start, bogeyed the 10th. It was a mix bag. There was a lot of wayward drivers. There were some good shots mixed with some bad shots. It's just one of those rounds, where I didn't get any momentum going. I did struggle a little bit with my wedges, especially with the fairways. They are very new, they've just been put in use so," said Lahiri.

"I just didn't swing it very well with my wedges. That's the key out here. If you can hit your approach shots close when you have the wedge in your hand, you are going to make a lot of birdies," he added. As for scoring on the par-5, where he had just one birdie, Lahiri said, "I think (par-5) 12th is definitely reachable. I hit a wayward drive on 12th. I was in the rough again on 18. The (Par-5) 18th hole is a bit of a tricky hole for me. I missed the fairway again, which led to par. On (Par-5) 9, I hit the fairway but did not hit a very good wedge.

"Just started getting a little bit cooler towards the end so, the ball was travelling a little differently. I think I am happy (with 3-under) because, I feel I have played quite poorly today. I think like my overall game was not good at all."