Anirban Lahiri takes 4-shot lead in Spain

Sotogrande, (Spain), Jul 14 (PTI) Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri inched closer to a maiden win on the LIV golf series as he carded a 5-under 66 in the second round to take a four-shot lead at the LIV Golf Andalucía here.

Lahiri, who plays on the Crushers team, put himself in position for his first win after the second round that included six birdies and no bogeys in his last 13 holes.

The 37-year-old, who opened with a 2-under 69, is 7-under with 18 holes to go. New Zealand’s Danny Lee his closest pursuer at 3-under.

Lahiri is seeking to end his nine-year victory drought. His last win came in his home country in the Hero Indian Open on the DP World Tour.

“It (the lead) doesn’t really matter on this golf course. Every day you have to battle it out … [but] it is a difficult golf course to catch up,” Lahiri said.

Thanks to Lahiri, captain Bryson DeChambeau’s 67 and Paul Casey’s 69, the league-leading Crushers shot a counting score of 11-under to move atop the team leaderboard at 7-under.

They have a four-shot advantage over home favourites Fireballs GC and are seeking a third team trophy this year.

While Lahiri has experienced plenty of team success with the Crushers, the most recent of his 18 individual pro wins came in February 2015 in India.

Since joining LIV Golf in 2022, he’s had a few close calls, including his debut start in Boston when he was part of a three-man playoff won by Dustin Johnson.

Last year, he had three podium finishes, including a runner-up to DeChambeau in Chicago.

“The win would mean a lot. I’ve been chasing it for a while,” said Lahiri, whose family arrived in town and will be cheering him on the final day.

While the Valderrama course was not as difficult in the second round as the day before, only about a third of the field managed to break par, with Lahiri and Ripper GC’s Marc Leishman sharing low round scores.

First-round leader Dean Burmester shot a 4-over 75 to drop into a tie for sixth. Lee maintained solo second with a 1-over 72 that included four birdies and five bogeys.

Fourteen players are within seven shots of the lead, including U.S. Open champ DeChambeau and 2024 two-time senior major winner Richard Bland, who are tied for sixth.

Lahiri is hoping that his prior close calls will help him.

“All these experiences help. It helped me today, as well, because even when I was ahead, I wasn’t really thinking about it. Just this golf course is perfect, actually, because you have no time to get ahead of yourself. Every shot is life-and-death almost.”