Anirban Lahiri barely makes cut but Tiger Woods holds on at Honda Classic golf

Palm Beach Gardens: Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri carded three bogeys in a span of four holes towards the end of his second round but eventually made the cut at the Honda Classic on Saturday. After starting from the tenth, Lahiri was two-under through 13 holes before he dropped the bogeys on fifth, seventh and eighth. The birdie in between on sixth was some consolation as he ended at one-over 71 and a total of four-over, which for long time looked the cutline.

Eventually, the cut fell at five-over and Lahiri made it comfortably and was tied 49th with the prospect of improving it over the weekend. The difficulty was the wind, which blew hard not just in the morning but also the afternoon. In addition, the greens were bare, firm and crusty which meant even three-footers were not easy given-ins.

Lahiri opened the day with a bogey on 10th and added a second bogey on 13th, but a birdie on 18th, where he holed a 13-footer for birdie, saw him turn in one-over. Good birdies on first and third meant he was now one-under and a par followed.

Then came the bogey on fifth, where his tee shot landed six feet from the cup, but instead of a birdie he bogeyed with a three-putt. On the next, he holed a 16-footer for birdie and that seemed to make up.
But again on seventh, he bogeyed and on eighth he three-putted from eight feet for another bogey and ended at 71.

However, the man of the moment at the event, Tiger Woods, one-under through 14 holes, overcame a double bogey and a bogey on 15th and 16th before finding a stunning birdie on the tough 17th. He closed the day at one-over and a total of one-over 141 that put him in T-14th in extremely difficult conditions. More importantly, Woods was only four behind the co-leaders, Luke List, playing great golf for 4-under, and Jamie Lovemark (69).

List and Lovemark were at 3-under 137, the highest score to lead at the halfway point of the Honda Classic since it moved to PGA National in 2007. List and Lovemark, both from California, have never won on the PGA Tour.

Tommy Fleetwood, who won the Race to Dubai on the European Tour last year, ground out a 68. He was one shot out of the lead along with Webb Simpson (72), Russell Henley (70) and Rory Sabbatini (69). Justin Thomas and Daniel Berger each shot 72 and were in a large group at 139. They were among only 10 players remaining under par. Thomas made 17 pars and a double bogey when he three-putted from six feet on No. 16.

Defending champion Rickie Fowler had six bogeys on his front nine and shot 77 to miss the cut. The leaderboard is very tight as Woods at T-14 is four behind the leader but only four ahead of the last place among the 76 players who made the cut at 5-over 145. "This is a difficult golf course right now. Making pars is a good thing. I've done that, and I'm right there with a chance," Woods said.