Lahiri opens with solid 69 to be T-27th; Dustin in six-way lead

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri shot a solid 3-under 69 to be Tied-27th even as the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass yielded a lot of low scores on the opening day of the PLAYERS Championships here.

While six players including the World No. 1 Dustin Johnson shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 and shared the lead with five others, another six players were a shot behind at T-7th.

However, despite a lot of low scores, some big names struggled and that lot included Phil Mickelson (79), Jordan Spieth (75), Rickie Fowler (74) and Justin Thomas (73) among others.

Amidst this Tiger Woods (72) salvaged his round with a closing eagle on the ninth and he was Tied-69th.

The leaderboard was crowded with low scores as 14 others shot 4-under to be T-13 and another dozen players, including, Lahiri, carded 3-under to be T-27th.

Lahiri, who exited last year with a disastrous 10 on the final Par-4 18th in the second round, got some revenge with a birdie on it. He had six birdies against three bogeys and was bogey-free on the tougher front stretch of the course, which was his second nine.

Lahiri's 69 was also his first round in the 60s at the PLAYERS, where he has missed the cut in both previous appearances in 2015 and 2017.

Speaking of his round, Lahiri said, No, you're not going to win this tournament on Thursday. I'll take anything in the 60s. If you can stay in the 60s for four days you'll be fine.

"I think the course will get tougher on the weekend, but I'm looking forward to going out in the morning (in second round). I'm pretty sure that tomorrow morning when we go out it will definitely be a little easier than it was this afternoon."