Southport, England: Indian duo Anirban Lahiri and Shiv Kapur fell short in their attempt to make the weekend rounds at The Open on Friday.
Battling the cold, windy and rainy conditions, Lahiri and Kapur returned on matching three-over-par 73s at Royal Birkdale. Their two-day total of six-over-par 146 was a single shot outside the mark.
Lahiri, the 2015 Asian Tour number one, made a poor club selection on the 18th hole, hitting a driver instead of a three-wood and saw his ball land in the fairway bunker which resulted in a disappointing bogey.
“I looked back at the two days that I played and all I see is I didn’t make a putt. I had two one putts and hit 15 or 14 greens in these conditions. I just did not get the hang of the greens. It is very disappointing because I played so well this week,” he said.
“I don’t think I’m putting badly but I really can’t come to terms with the surface. It is not an excuse. It is on me and it is a terrible feeling to have. I’ve just not been tuned in to the speeds on the greens. I’ve been terrible on the putting surface and that’s something I need to work on,” added Lahiri.
Kapur, making his third appearance at The Open, was disappointed to miss the weekend rounds but was pleased with his battling performance.
“It was brutal out there. First it was the wind then the rain and the wind switched on the back nine. All in all I hung quite tough and played pretty well. I made a couple of bogeys on the back but I fought back. Unfortunately it was one shot too many,” he said.
“On a day like today, you know everyone is battling. At the start of the day I figured even-par would be a good score and I tried to hang on but I had a bad stretch in the middle of the round,” added Kapur.
He believes the experience of playing at The Open will make him a better player. “You got to take all the positives that you can. I had one bad hole over two days and that’s the difference between making the cut or not. I would love to come back and try again. This is a learning experience and I think this will make me a better golfer in the future.”
