Playing in his second Olympics, India’s Anirban Lahiri got off to a solid start, carding a 4-under 67 in the first round to be placed tied 8th at the weather-hit Tokyo Games golf competition at the Kasumigaseki Country Club on Thursday.
The former Asian Tour No 1 Lahiri had six birdies against two bogeys and shared the 8th spot with Paul Casey (Great Britain) Alex Noren (Sweden) and Sebastian Munoz (Mexico) at the end of the day.
The other Indian in fray, Udayan Mane, who made the field of 60 at a late stage, had a fine start at 2-under after eight holes. But he finished at 5-over 76 and was last on the leader-board.
The field was led by Austrian Sepp Straka, who came into the Games after six missed cuts in last seven starts, and equalled an Olympic record of 8-under 63 set by Matt Kuchar (US) and Australia’s Marcus Fraser, who shot 63s in the 2016 Rio Games when golf returned to the Olympics for the first time in more than a century.
Among the world stars, who did not have a great start, former World No 1 Justin Thomas started with even-par 71 and was T-41, while the 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and 2021 British Open winner Collin Morikawa of the US, were both T-20 with 2-under 69 each. Rory McIlroy was also 2-under 69.