Cromwell, Jun 24 (Golf News) Anirban Lahiri reeled off 18 pars for the second time on the PGA Tour as he carded even par 70 to lie tied 69 after the first round of the Travelers Championship here.
The Indian golfer will now have little room for mistake as he needs to bring in a good second round to ensure he is around for the weekend.
The day once again belonged to the in-form Rory McIlroy, who despite a sinus bug shot a bogey-free eight-under 62 and shared the lead with J.T.Poston.
They were one ahead of Xander Schauffele and Martin Laird. This season McIlroy has seven top-10s, including five in his last six starts.
The best among Asians came from Satoshi Kodaira of Japan, who came in as a replacement following the late withdrawal of Justin Thomas.
He shot 3-under 67 and was placed T-15, with Kiradech Aphibarnrat and K H Lee with 68 at T-30.
It was the second time Lahiri had 18 pars in a round. The first time was at the Masters in 2015 in the final round.
Lahiri hit 13 of the 18 greens in regulation. He did miss a couple of putts inside 9-10 feet for birdies and one of his fine saves was on Par-3 eighth, when he had a fantastic chip-in.
His second shot went six yards to the left rough from where he had a third shot chip-in to save par and he delivered.
McIlroy, coming off a fifth-place in the US Open and a win at the Canadian Open the week before that, had eight birdies, including one from 47 feet on the par-4 seventh. The score matched the lowest opening round of his PGA TOUR career.
Poston had five straight birdies from 13th to 17th as he turned in six-under 29 and raised visions of Jim Furyk's record 58 on the same TPC River Highlands course in 2016.
Poston parred the first six holes on front nine and birdied seventh and ninth for a bogey free 62.
Schauffele hit all 18 greens in regulation for the first time in his career. Patrick Cantlay, Charles Howell III and Webb Simpson, who played alongside McIlroy, were two shots back at 64.
Harris English, who won last year on the eighth hole of a playoff, opened with a 66. Top-ranked Masters champion Scottie Scheffler had a 68.
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News Source : PTI
