India ace golfer Anirban Lahiri has once again given himself a shot at the title, as he lied fourth at the midway stage of the Honda Classic on the PGA Tour.
The 28-year-old Indian, who opened the week with a five-under 65 added a two-under 68 to get to seven-under and was only two shots behind co-leaders, Ryan Palmer (66-65) and Bryan Wesley (64-67), while Rickie Fowler (66-66) was eight-under and third.
Lahiri, who comes to India for Hero Indian Open in India after this week, shot 65 in the afternoon yesterday in tougher conditions said, "I think condition-wise, yesterday was about as good as you would get for afternoon conditions. This morning was really nice. I think they have been good to us with ball-in-hand (preferred lies). There's so much mud on the fairways, you don't want to get penalized for that.
"So I think that helps the scoring a little bit. I played solid I think both rounds. Yesterday I made a lot more putts than today. The back nine today, I could have easily made two or three putts for birdies, but I was happy nonetheless."
Lahiri was also calmer and happier as Palm Beach is home for him as this is his base in the US. "It's fun. It's beginning to feel like home. I'm sleeping in my own bed. I'm just down the road here in PGA National. I live here. I don't play regularly out here but I do live here. So it feels like a home event," added Lahiri.
"I think I'm really relaxed this week. It helps that I'm sleeping in my own bed. It's three minutes to get to the venue. I'm loving the weather here. It's really nice. I'm really relaxed."
Lahiri was looking good at midway stage even last week, but faltered over the weekend.
He said, "I mean, last week was a bit of a mess, just in terms of the weather. I had four wake-up calls at 4:00 A.M. I was trying to get over a 16-hour time difference. I was tired; I was jet-lagged.
"So I think this week, the body feels a lot better. Definitely more on time. Like I said, eating home food, sleeping in your own bed, makes a big difference, and it's just nice. The weather's great and it feels really nice to back here."
Talking of the PGA National, where the tournament is being held, and where he often practices, too, he added, "I moved in April last year. The last time I played here was the event last year. I'm not the kind of guy who likes to play a lot of golf in the off- season. I'm more a guy who likes to work on his game on the range on a par 3 golf course or something like that."
He went on, "I'm based out of The Bear's Club. Mr. Nicklaus was nice enough to allow me membership there, so I spend most of my time there. They have got a great practice facility that nobody disturbs you."
Palmer made seven birdies Friday on another day of ideal scoring conditions at PGA National for a 5-under 65 that gave him a share of the lead with PGA TOUR rookie Bryan (67) going into the weekend at the Honda Classic.
Palmer's wife, was diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer in late July while he was at the Canadian Open. She had surgery about five weeks later. Palmer's season ended in September and he spent the rest of the year with her recovery. She was diagnosed relatively early, and the timing helped in other ways.
The cut was at even-par 140, matching the highest cut since the Honda Classic moved to PGA National in 2007.
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