Lahiri storms into lead with six-under 64

Bangalore, June 19 (UNI) India's No.1 amateur Anirban Lahiri continued his sizzling run with a opening round of six under 64 to assume the sole lead in the LG Southern India Amateur Golf Championship, the second leg of the LG Indian Amateur Golf Tour here today.

Abhishek Jha shot a four under 66 to occupy second spot while Jaipur's Amanjyot Singh, Delhi's Saurabh Bahuguna and Golf Foundation trainee Rudresh Sharma returned with two under 68 each to occupy tied third place.

Simarjeet Singh was in sixth place at 69 while Akhilesh Chitlangia and Samaresh Sardar shot a 70 each to tie for seventh place. Balvinder Singh Mattu, Mithun Perera, CG Somiah, Manav Das, Navtez Singh, Jasjeet Singh and K Prabagaran were placed tied ninth at 71.

Egalton Champion Lahiri began straightaway with birdies on the first and second but dropped a shot on the par-3 third, where he three-putted from 12 feet. However, birdies on the fourth, fifth and eighth saw him make the turn at four under. On his return leg, Lahiri birdied the 10 th, 14th and 15th but a bogey on the par-3 16th saw him end the day at 64.

''I was in the zone today and hit the ball really well. I missed only three fairways and attacked the pin consistently,'' Lahiri said.

Abhishek Jha had a near perfect round erring as he did only once and this on the par-4 13th. He birdied the second, fifth and eagled the eighth to make the turn at four under. On the eighth, Jha hit his second shot to about 12 feet from the pin and made a left to right uphill putt. On his return journey, Jha birdied the 17th to end the day at 66.

Scores (After 18 holes): 64 Anirban Lahiri; 66 Abhishek Jha; 68 Amanjyot Singh, Rudresh Sharma, Saurabh Bahuguna; 69 Simarjeet Singh; 70 Samaresh Sardar, Akhilesh Chitlangia; 71 Balwinder Singh Mattu, Mithun Perera, CG Somiah, Manav Das, Navtez Singh, Jasjeet Singh, K Prabagaran.

UNI