Crans Montana, Switzerland: India’s Anirban Lahiri put up a battling performance with a second round even-par-71 to trail Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn and Scotland’s Stephen Gallcher by two shots at the Omega European Masters on Friday.
The three-time Asian Tour winner grabbed the opening honours with a fine 63 but struggled to repeat his heroics and had to settle for a share of eighth place with his two-day total of eight-under-par 134 at the €2.1 million, approximately US$2.8 million showpiece event in Crans Montana.
“It was a grind. I started off well but I couldn’t find the fairways after that. It was tough because I never really put myself in a position to get on a roll,” said Lahiri.
Lahiri was in commanding form at the start when he fired two birdies in his opening three holes to extend his overnight lead.
After turning in 35, the 26-year-old picked up another gain on the 14th but a costly double-bogey on the 16th saw him slip down the leaderboard.
“I wasn’t even close to playing my A game as I was really struggling to find the fairways. But I think I did well given the fact that I didn’t play great and for an average day, I haven’t lost so much ground and I’m still very much in it,” said Lahiri.
Meanwhile Bjorn will be determined to avoid committing more errors if he wants to win the Omega European Masters for the second time.
The 2011 champion appeared to sign for another flawless round until a bogey on the last hole opened the door for Gallacher to take a share of the second round lead.
“It wasn’t the prettiest at the end but I played well today. I just kept patient. I told myself not to make any silly bogeys this week and I made one on the last which was the first one,” said the 42-year-old Dane.
Gallacher was also left to rue his only blemish on the 17th which could have otherwise given him the outright lead.
“That was a solid round. I holed some good putts. I will take another two more of those. I hit the ball really good on the front nine and got my just rewards. I holed a couple of decent putts the back nine too but didn’t play that well but I’m in there,” said Gallacher.
"First place is not bad. I’m happy with that. It gives me something to work on over the weekend," added the Gallacher.
The Omega European Masters is the only tournament on European soil to be jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour and marks the start of the second half of the Asian Tour season.
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