India&aposs Anirban Lahiri moved into a two-shot lead after the first day of the European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre on Thursday. Despite suffering from a twisted knee after falling four weeks ago, the 26-year-old got off to a strong start, hitting four birdies on the outward nine. He then added another on the 15th as well as eagles on the 14th and 18th holes to card an impressive eight-under-par round of 63 to lead English duo Tommy Fleetwood and Paul Casey and also Spain&aposs Miguel Angel Jimenez by two shots. Lahiri has yet to record a top-10 finish on the European Tour but has given himself a great opportunity to do so in Switzerland over the next three days. He told the Tour&aposs website that he was delighted with his performance on the back nine in particular. “Halfway through the round, I really got it going,” he explained. “I didn t really get off to a great start (on the back nine). I was one-over through four holes (but) a couple of eagles on the back nine got my momentum going and I m happy I managed to focus all the way through.” Denmark&aposs Thomas Bjorn lies a shot back from the trio of players on 65 with six more players tied on 67. Defending champion Richie Ramsay got off to a poor start, bogeying four times in his way to a two-over round. Thirteen-year-old amateur Ye Wo-Cheng also had a tough time of it, in the afternoon especially. After coming in two over, the Chinese prodigy double bogeyed three of the first four holes in the afternoon to finish seven over for the day. Brett Rumford leads the Australian contingent after he managed a three-under-par round of 68 to earn a share of 12th. The Aussie quartet of Scott Hend, Scott Barr, Andrew Dodt and Marcus Fraser are all one shot back in a tie for 28th while Kieran Pratt (E), Richard Green (E), Wade Ormsby (+1) and David Gleeson (+9) are well off the pace.
Author: Omnisport