Belief drives Anirban on

NEW DELHI: The magic word that Anirban Lahiri stressed on after his flawless 7-under 65 opening round of the $300,000 Panasonic Open was belief, but there wasn't an instant way of gaining it.
It was only after years of perseverance and suffering at the narrow Delhi Golf Club course that the 23-year-old learnt the virtue of restraint. Keeping the driver out of the bag, like he did at the SAIL Open a fortnight before, he achieved an identical result.Then also, he had found himself on top of the leaderboard, although he eventually finished sixth.
This time, the confidence coming from a domestic triumph at Panchkula and the experience of being in contention at a course where he has never excelled before may have worked wonders.
"These past two weeks have been great. I have never done well on this course, so a good finish at SAIL was a huge boost. I have managed to make friends with the bushes," he said after building a two-stroke lead. With pin placements tricky, the rough threatening and the infamous foliage rearing its ugly head, it was important to hit straight. Anirban found the fairways consistently, and his approach shots were sublime as he finished with a flurry of five birdies in six holes. "I hit it extremely close today. Only on the 18th, I had to sink a 20-footer for a birdie," he said.
Leading first round scores: 7-under 65-Anirban Lahiri; 67-N Tantipokakul (Tha), M Mamat (Sin); 69- Shakhawat Sohel (Ban), T Chuayprakong (Tha), Somkiat Srisanga (Tha), Maniram Sharma, Vikrant Chopra, Tim Stewart (Aus). Selected scores: 73-Jyoti Randhawa, SSP Chowrasia; 78- Gaganjeet Bhullar.