Indian golfer takes two-shot lead in opening round of European Masters

An Indian professional golfer has taken a two-shot lead in the opening round of the European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland by carding an eight under par 63 on Thursday.

According to Sport24, Anirban Lahiri, who is ranked 178 in the world coming into the prestigious EPGA event, built his score around two eagles, including a 140-yard second shot on the ninth that flew straight into the cup.

The report further said that the Spanish veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez, who won the event in 2010, and Englishmen Paul Casey and Tommy Fleetwood are all two shots behind Lahiri, who is from the Indian city of Bengaluru, while Indian golf ace Jeev Milkha Singh is five shots back at 68.

Stating that he is delighted to come back into the event at the Swiss Alps with a bang given his missing the cut last year, Lahiri quipped that he has learnt a lesson from his experience of last year, when he had to shiver in the cold after taking off his extra layers of clothes.

The report mentioned that Lahiri got caught out by a change in weather conditions on day two and ended up shooting an 81 to miss the cut last year at the event.

Lahiri qualified for his first major at the 2012 British Open, where he not only made the cut but also scored a hole-in-one during his third round, the report added.