Lahiri tied second at Selangor Masters, Gangjee 14th

PETALING JAYA - Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri, keen to make up for last week’s miss in the final round, made a fine start in the $300,000 Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters here Wednesday.

Lahiri, 14th last week at Brunei Open shot a two-under 69 to lie in the tied second place, but three shots adrift of the leader Malaysian Airil Rizman, who produced his best form in years to shoot a five-under-par 66.

While Rimzin was the sole leader, Lahiri with six others Brad Smith, Zaw Moe, Scott Hend, Chinnarat Phadungsil, Thaworn Wiratchant and Pariya Junhasavasdikul were in tied second.

Of the other Indians, Rahil Gangjee (71) was tied 14th, Naman Dawar (72) was tied 27th, Gaurav Ghei and Gaganjeet Bhullar shot 73 each and were tied 40th. C. Muniyappa and Gaurav Pratap Singh shot 75 each to be tied 69th, while Vikrant Chopra, Digvijay Singh, Gurki Shergill and Mandeep Pathania with 76 each were 89th. Firoz Ali shot 78, Amandeep Johl 79 and Himmat Rai ballooned to 80.

Rimzin, the 32-year-old, who nearly quit the game after two years of frustration, stormed home with five birdies at the challenging Seri Selangor Golf Club to head a pack of seven players.

Following a breakthrough season in 2007 which saw Airil claim his maiden Asian Tour win at the Pakistan Open, his career went into a tail spin that he failed to produce a top-10 in two years.

Decorated Thai star Thaworn launched his quest for a record equalling 12th Asian Tour title with a five-birdie round for his best score at the par-71 Seri Selangor.