Johnson leads, Lahiri T-27

Dustin Johnson, the world No. 1, hopes that a new putter and a new putting method will help turn around his fortunes at a premier golf championship that has mystified him for years. Johnson got off to the right start at the Players Championship, taming the sometimes diabolical TPC Sawgrass to shoot a relatively breezy 6-under 66 and join five others with the Day 1 lead.

Johnson, 33, is in his 10th Players, where he has finished better than a tie for 28th only once, that being a tie for 12th last year. TPC Sawgrass and its greens have always had the upper hand on him, so this time around, he switched things up.

LAHIRI CARDS 69 ON A DAY OF LOW SCORES

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri shot a solid 3-under 69 to be Tied27th even as the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass yielded a lot of low scores on the opening day

Lahiri, who exited last year with a disastrous 10 on the final Par-4 18th in the second round, got some revenge with a birdie on it. He had six birdies against three bogeys and was bogey-free on the tougher front stretch.

SATHIYAN SIGNS UP FOR GERMAN CLUB

India’s top table tennis player G Sathiyan, who won three medals at his Commonwealth Games debut last month, has signed with German Bundesliga’s top division club ASV Grunwettersbach Tischtennis.

He was also a part of the Indian men’s team that finished 13th, its best ever performance, in the World Team Championships in Sweden last week.

“I am really happy on becoming the second Indian to sign up with a club after Sharath Kamal in the most prestigious league in the world. I am looking forward to playing against world class players and I think it will be a great experience,” he said.

75CR DEAL FOR INDIAN BADMINTON

In a big boost to badminton in India, the national federation has inked a Rs 75 crore deal with sports equipment manufacturer Yonex Sunrise, which will now supply equipments to BAI for all their tournaments, camps and academies in India.