Hole-in-one icing on the cake for debutant Lahiri, Jeev slips

Lahiri's effort moved him inside the top-20 with one more round to go.

But his better-known colleague and idol, Jeev Milkha Singh, suffered a lot at the Royal Lytham and struggled to a six-over 76 to lay at seven-over for the tournament.

While the par round was a great achievement for the Bangalore golfer, who has two titles on Asian Tour, Lahiri's big moment came on the ninth, when his 9-iron tee shot landed the ball into the cup for an ace. It was a near replica of the ace shot by Paul McGinley at the same course on the same hole in the 1996 Open Championships.

When asked about the day, Lahiri said, "Yeah, just when I thought that it was fantastic, it gets even better. Like I said right from the start I've been saying it, Thursday, Friday, today, Saturday, it's just been fantastic. That's (hole in one) probably the icing on the cake today."

Talking about his hole in one, Lahiri said, "You're just looking around, you don't know how to express yourself, and then you see your dad jumping up out there blowing you kisses. These moments don't come every day. The ball is with my dad. I don't think anybody can take that away from him."

Asked to elaborate on his hole-in-one he said, "I was 2-over coming up to the 8th hole, and walked up the tee, it was almost exactly the same yardage as yesterday. And I was in between clubs again. Yesterday I hit the wedge instead of a 9-iron, and found a greenside trap and made bogey.

"I just told my caddie, we'll take the 9, it doesn't matter if it goes past, I'll just hit it soft. Made a good swing on it. It was looking a little right of the hole, but it got a really, really friendly bounce. I was just hoping it ended up close. When it goes in, everybody goes wild, I go wild, it was fantastic." MORE