Lahiri close to Top-5 through 3rd third round at The Open

A consistent Anirban Lahiri continued his superb march at the weather-hit 144th Open Championships as he was going great guns at four-under through 11 holes in the third round here today.
The second round was completed only yesterday after a 11-hour disruption due to high-speed winds at the Old Curse at St. Andrews.
Lahiri, winner of Malaysian Open and Hero Indian Open this season, has cards of 69 and 70 in first two rounds and at nine-under through 47 holes, midway through his third round.
He moved into Top-5 and was in line to notch up his personal best at Major and the best by an Indian at any Open Championships.

The best finish by an Indian at the Open Championship is T-27 by Jyoti Randhawa at the 2004 edition, while Lahiri's best is T-31 in 2012. The best by an Indian at any Major is T-9 by Jeev Milkha Singh at the 2008 PGA in Oakland Hills.
Lahiri was three-under for the front nine and became four-under after 11 and has been bogey-free for last 30 holes - the last bogey was on par-4 17th Road Hole on Thursday in the first round.

Lahiri opened with a birdie on the first and then quietly parred the next two before slotting another on the fourth. Four more steady pars were followed by a third birdie on ninth as he turned in an excellent three-under. A fourth birdie came on 11th.

The feature of Lahiri's play so far has been consistency as he has found most of the greens in the third day. He missed two of the eight fairways, but still found his way back to the green in regulation.
Lahiri had five birdies and two bogeys on day one and then two birdies and no bogeys on second. On the third day it has been three birdies in nine holes against bogeys.
On Saturday with high speed winds hitting the Old Course at St. Andrews, Lahiri had a complete off day as he did not get to play. "It is always nice to get some rest and to get that midway through a Major like Open is a bonus," Lahiri had said. "I am enjoying all this right now."

No Asian has ever won the Open Championships and in fact the only Asian to win a Major is Y E Yang at the 2009 PGA Championships.