Lahiri lies T-37 in opening round of Puerto Rico Open

Rio Grande (Puerto Rico), Feb 26 (PTI) Star Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri carded a bitter-sweet two-under 70 in the first round to be placed tied 37th at the PGA TOUR's Puerto Rico Open here.

Lahiri, returning to action after three weeks, opened with a hat-trick of birdies from second to fourth and closed the day with a superb eagle, but in between had four bogeys between 10th and 17th.

Lahiri's senior colleague, Arjun Atwal, who is witnessing action for the first time in four months, scored one-under 71 to be placed tied 52nd.

Daniel Chopra, who played with Lahiri, shot two-over 74 and was T-97.

The leader was Tommy Gainey, who birdied five of the last seven holes for a seven-under 65.

Gainey, 45, had his lone PGA Tour win in 2012 and he led by one over local favourite Rafael Campos, Robert Garrigus, Taylor Pendrith, Lee Hodges, Greg Chalmers, Fabian Gomez and Brandon Wu.

Gainey birdied the opening two holes and three of the first four and overall had nine birdies against two bogeys.

One of the early starters in the first round, Lahiri, who has not won since the 2015 Hero Indian Open, started with a par on the first. He birdied three in a row from second to fourth, parred the rest of the front nine to turn in a healthy three-under.

Lahiri then dropped shots on 10th, 13th, 16th and 17th with just one birdie on Par-5 15th. When he came to the 18th tee for the Par-5 closing hole, he was even par despite a fine start.

Lahiri then fired two fine shots and landed an eagle for a satisfying two-under 70.

Atwal had three birdies against two bogeys, while Chopra had two birdies against four bogeys.

The winner here will get entry into the PGA Championship in May.

European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington shot 70. Ian Poulter opened with a 71.

Greg Chalmers aced the par-3 eighth hole en route to a six-under 66. It was his second hole-in-one in the event and his seventh career hole-in-one.

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