Lahiri roars back with bogeyfree 64 to climb to sixth at CIMB Classic
KUALA LUMPUR: Anirban Lahiri roared back into contention at the CIMB Classic golf tournament with a stunning bogey-free 64, his second best-ever round at the TPC Kuala Lumpur, here on Saturday.
That helped him move up from overnight four-under and T- 23rd to a healthy 12-under and sixth place after three rounds. SSP Chawrasia wilted under the heat and shot 74 to drop to T-60th at one-over 217.
Pat Perez’s eight-under 64 with nine birdies and one bogey on par-4 13th saw him swell his lead from one to four over Xander Schauffele (67), while Korean Sung-hoon Kang (65) stayed third. The day’s best card came from Hideki Matsuyama (63), who shared the fourth spot with Keegan Bradley (65).
Though Perez is four clear of Schauffele, the former would do well to remember that Lahiri, too, led by four and yet lost to Justin Thomas last year. Lahiri got off to a good start with birdies on the second and fourth before adding two more on the seventh and eighth.
He kept his foot on the pedal on the back nine to get to seven-under with birdies on par-3 11th, par-4 12th and par-4 14th. He finally tamed a par-5 after getting to the green on two on 18th to close at 64. Lahiri found 17 of the 18 greens slightly better than 16 out of 18 on first day. But on Saturday he holed a few more putts – 28 as compared to 30 and when he missed the fairways he missed them on the right places.