Anirban Lahiri got off to a strong start with a five-under 66 to lie one shot off the leaders at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Lahiri was Tied-fourth and one stroke behind the leading trio of Rickie Fowler, Shane Lowery and last year's co-runner-up Hideki Matsuyama who carded 65 each.
Lahiri spent a session with putting guru, Dave Stockton, whom he met for the first time on Wednesday and immediately reaped benefits from it. He was perfect inside 10 feet and made seven birdies.
"I was cluttered and needed to get a more systematic process I can follow. I'm not very technical by nature. I like to visualize and feel the shots and that's not how I putted before," Lahiri said.
Stockton told him to 'simplify' the process and it worked. Lahiri started on the tenth, and after a opening par, he flourished with three birdies in a row from 11th to 13th and then after a dropped shot on 15th, he picked two more birdies on 16th and 17th to turn in four-under.
On his second nine, the back stretch of the TPC Scottsdale, he bogeyed the first but picked birdies on third and sixth and negotiated the rest in pars for a first day's work of five-under 66 at the par-71 course. Lahiri had and seven birdies and two bogeys.
Fowler, who like Lahiri missed the cut at last week at Torrey Pines in Farmers Insurance Open, opened with a 65 that included three birdies and an eagle in his first five holes.
He cooled slightly but needed just 24 putts, including a dozen one-putts. Fowler had a total of six birdies, an eagle and two bogeys, while Lowry and Matsuyama had eight birdies and two bogeys each.
With a crowd exceeding 100,000 on the very first day Lahiri was happy with his start.
"I'm quite happy with the way I started. Obviously got off to a good, solid start. Found a lot of greens starting out. A little bit disappointed with how I drove it. I feel like I could have probably, you know, played a couple of shots better. But the iron play was really good. Felt really solid on the greens," he said.
"I played solid today after a poor start," said Lahiri. But he added, "I putted well, but found a lot of edges and didn't really hole a lot of putts (for birdies)."
He was happy with his game, as he summed up, "I found 15 greens today and that was great. It was nice to finish strongly (two birdies in last three holes) and it is important to take that momentum into the weekend."
Lahiri, winner of two co-sanctioned events with Asian and European Tours in 2015, including the Hero Indian Open, has made three cuts in five starts in 2015 with T-28 at Career Builder Challenge as his best.
Scott, second at Northern Trust Open two weeks ago and winner at Honda Classic last week, is back in the saddle at midway stage.
Scott's 6-under 66 got him to 10 under for the tournament and two clear of Rory McIlroy and defending champion Dustin Johnson. With three birdies in his last four holes Scott enters this weekend confidently.
Jordan Spieth made bogey on his final hole and shot even -par 72, leaving him seven shots off the lead in Tied-12th place. But Scott knows that hot in pursuit are Johnson (64), who shares second with McIlroy (65) and World No. 15 Danny Willett is in solo fourth after his 69. Just behind them are World No. 4 Bubba Watson (Tied-fifth) and Phil Mickelson (Tied-seventh).
