Sports News | Lahiri Shoots 8-under but Finishes Second in Vietnam
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. India's Anirban Lahiri produced the day's best round of bogey free 8-under that almost brought him his first win in eight years on the Asian Tour here on Sunday.
Cam Ranh (Vietnam), Apr 16 (PTI) India's Anirban Lahiri produced the day's best round of bogey free 8-under that almost brought him his first win in eight years on the Asian Tour here on Sunday.
Lahiri, 10-under overnight, set the target at 18-under and then waited for those following him to finish. He ended second.
Kieran Vincent of Zimbabwe, in just his second year as a professional, holed a decisive 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to beat Lahiri and Australian Kevin Yuan by one stroke.
Kieran Vincent's brother Scott won the International Series England last year. The 25-year-old Kieran won USD 360,000.
Vincent shot a six-under-par 66 for a four-round aggregate of 19 under, while Lahiri carded a 64 and Yuan (68) missed a similar length birdie putt on the last to force a sudden-death play-off.
S Chikkarangappa (65) also had a great final round but finished tied 27th as Honey Baisoya (68), who started the week with 65, shot 73-72 in between, and finished tied 40th.
Veer Ahlawat (69) was tied 56th, Karandeep Kochhar (69) was tied 61st, while Kartik Sharma (73) and SSP Chawrasia (75) were tied 71st.
Seven-time Asian Tour winner Lahiri was attempting to win his first Asian Tour title since his 2015 Indian Open win, and was a strong favourite after storming through the field in the fifth from last group, making eight birdies in his first 14 holes. However, he could only par the last four holes.
"I'm happy with the way I played, disappointed not to make a couple more coming in," said Lahiri, the Asian Tour's number one player in 2015 before embarking on a successful career on the PGA Tour.
"You know I got off to a really good start. I kind of found my rhythm yesterday and today so that was nice. Yeah, a little upset not to make maybe one or two in the last four holes which are very gettable. So yeah, great week, but it's disappointing. I've had so many seconds now I need to break this habit of mine."
The Indian star heads to the LIV Golf Adelaide event next week before LIV Golf Singapore.
"Excited to take this form into the next few weeks. I think it is going to be an important stretch over the next month, month and a half. You know, you get into the meat of the season.
"And very exciting to go to Australia. I've been to Adelaide and I'm hearing great things about the venue, about the people and the anticipation, the buzz is great."
Japan's Takumi Kanaya had started the day with a three-shot advantage but, unlike the International Series Oman in February where he triumphed after also holding the third-round lead, he struggled on the back nine and closed with a 73 to tie for fourth, on 16 under.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)