Anirban Lahiri held up well in windy weather and difficult scoring conditions till a couple of errant shots left him at four-over 76 at the end of the opening round of the 80th Masters at Augusta National.
Lahiri was Tied-59th and will need to produce a strong second round to make the cut which falls at 50 plus ties or be not more than 10 shots outside the leader.
One of the late afternoon groups to tee off at the Augusta National, Lahiri was even par through 15 holes with two birdies and two bogeys, when he crashed at the 16th with a painful triple bogey and another bogey on the 17th left him shaking his head in disappointment.
The 28-year-old will need to work a lot in the second round to make his second successive cut at the year's first Major.
"It was a bad finish, like a kick in the stomach. I think I played decently till that point. I had chances, but didn't make anything (putts) outside 4-5 feet on the greens, except on the 14th, where I holed a 15-footer for birdie. Still, I felt I was hanging in well till the 16th."
Even as the defending champion Jordan Spieth got off to a flying start with a bogey free six-under 66, a lot of other favourites struggled on the opening day, none more Rickie Fowler, one of the probable contenders before the event, and Ernie Els, who shot 80 each.
Lahiri went into the water on 15th but recovered well to make par with a nice up-and-down. On the Par-3 16th, where players try to skip the ball over the water in practice rounds to regale the gallery, Lahiri went into the water. He took a drop just ahead of the tee box and then hit what was his third shot to 40 feet from the hole. It was a tough downhill and he ended with a triple.
He could barely recover when he missed another makeable par on 17th and all the good work had been washed away.
"I felt I put myself in a good spot with some good recoveries despite not putting well enough. I am not sure what happened on 16th, probably tried to hard and pulled it.
"Anyway if the conditions stay as hard tomorrow, when I go out in the morning, I can pull myself up with a good round while scoring stays as it was today," said Lahiri.
Despite a disappointing third round, Laihiri still
sounded confident.
"The game is looking good and I am looking to put in a solid final round."
Fowler carded a four-under 68 yestyerday to take the third-round lead at the Wells Fargo Championship, where he had a breakthrough win in 2012. He had a one-stroke lead over Roberto Castro, with Justin Rose and James Hahn two strokes back.
Fowler won The Players Championship and Deutsche Bank Championship last year and took the European Tour event in Abu Dhabi early this year. Though he blew a late lead and lost the Phoenix Open in a playoff this season, he is looking good this week.
Winless on the Tour, Castro was atop the leaderboard most of the day, but bogeyed the 18th hole for a 71.
Fowler parred the first seven holes before running up three straight birdies from eighth to 11th.
Just as he looked like running away, things crumbled with bogeys on 10th and 12th, but Fowler hit back strongly with three straight birdies starting from 14th to get into the lead.
Phil Mickelson and defending champion Rory McIlroy had a tough time, dropping eight shots behind Fowler.
Mickelson was in contention until a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 18th hole to finish with a 76. McIlroy, the tournament's only two-time winner, had two bogeys in the first four holes and shot 73.
Rose put himself in contention after rounds of 70, 70 and 69.
