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Lahiri stays at 15th place in unfinished second round at PGA

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Press Trust of India Kohler (Wisconsin)
Anirban Lahiri holed three birdies against one bogey to get to two-under through 13 holes in the second round of the PGA Championships before thunderstorms led to suspension of play here.

Lahiri, two-under for the first round, moved to four-under through 31 holes and was still tied 15th - exactly where he was after first round - with five holes left to complete on third day when play resumes.

Starting from the 10th with a late afternoon start, Lahiri may well have been even better than where he is had he not missed at least two 10-footers and two more between 13 and 16 feet for birdies. He did have a good long birdie putt from just under 24 feet on par-3 third.
 

Lahiri's play was once again about some good iron play and approach shots that set up a lot of chances, something he has been talking about frequently.

Lahiri birdied both the par-5s on the back stretch of Whistling Straits, which he played first after teeing off from 10th. He birdied the 11th and the 16th, but dropped a shot on par-3 17th, where his 13-footer par putt finished three inches from the cup. He holed a great 24-footer on par-3 second for his third birdie, but saw his 16-footer birdie putt slide past the cup on par-5 second.

Lahiri's prominent birdie misses came on par-4s, 13th and 14th. Still with some steady play, the 28-year-old Indian, who has two big wins this season in Malaysian Open and Hero Indian Open, can still rise higher.

At the top, Australians duo Jason Day and Matt Jones shared the lead at 9-under with some holes still to play when second-round play was suspended. Both Day and Jones were 5-under in their second rounds with Day having four holes left and Jones having six left.

Justin Rose was in third place at 8-under and he was also 5-under for the day through 17 holes.

The clubhouse leader was David Lingmerth, who followed his first round 67 with a 70 in second.

The man of the day was Japan's Hiroshi Iwata, who tied the best round ever at a Major with a 63. The 34-year-old Japanese star is making his first appearance at PGA Championships and his 63 was in sharp contrast to his first round 77.

Jordan Spieth, after his 71 in first round, brought himself back into strong contention with a five-under 67 and Rory McIlroy, playing his first event since June, shot a second identical 71 and he was two-under 142.

Tiger Woods continued to struggle as he was one-over through 13 holes after a first round 75. With the cut likely at two-over, four-time PGA Championship winner Woods will need to get a few birdies in his remaining five holes.

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First Published: Aug 15 2015 | 5:57 PM IST

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