Lahiri, Atwal shoot 71 to be tied 66th at RSM Classic

Indian golfers Anirban Lahiri and Arjun Atwal opened with an identical one-under 71 to lie tied 66th at the Par 72 Plantation course in the RSM Classic here.

Lahiri, who returned to competition after recovering from a side strain, started on the tenth and birdied on the fifth and 17th, dropping a shot on the second for his 71 on Thursday.

Atwal, on the other hand, shot four birdies against three bogeys.

Beginning on a disappointing note, the 46-year-old shot three over the first eight, but managed to recover with birdies on ninth, 14th, 17th and 18th to get under par.

In his five starts so far, Lahiri has missed three cuts and withdrawn once from Bermuda Championship after two rounds because of a side strain.

The 32-year-old Lahiri has fallen to 374th, his lowest ranking since April 2011.

The RSM Classic features two courses, the Seaside and Plantation, which sees 156 players in the final Tour event of the calendar year 2019.

Webb Simpson, playing at the Plantation, shot seven-under 65 to be the sole leader, as Cameron Tringale shot six-under 64 at Seaside.

Korea's Kyoung-Hoon Lee, six-under 64 at Seaside and Rhein Gibson six-under 66 at Plantation followed him.

Coming off back-to-back wins at the Bermuda Championship and Mayakoba Golf Classic, Brendon Todd posted his 10th consecutive round in the 60s, the longest active streak on TOUR. He was Tied-14th.

Defending champion Charles Howell III opened two-under 68.