Anirban Lahiri’s hopes of progressing to the last 16 at the World Golf Championship at San Francisco were dashed following his loss to Marc Leishman in the third round.
Leishman’s campaign in the tournament so far has been near perfect. The World Number 60 hasn’t lost a single match and despite Justin Rose coming up with a superlative performance against Ryan Palmer in his third round encounter, couldn’t stop Leishman from progressing to the last 16.
Lahiri started the match against Leishman on a positive note, birdying the first hole. However, a bogey in the fourth hole evened the scores before Leishman birdied on the fifth and ninth holes to go two up. An unrelenting fighter, Lahiri birdied on the 11th and 12th holes to level the scores. But the Indian found himself lagging behind after Leishman double-bogeyed on the 14th.
Lahiri and Leishman birdied the 15th holes to head to the last two holes with pars.
Although the loss to Leishman will come as a severe blow to the 35th ranked Lahiri, there is a lot that he can take home from his performance in the tournament. After beginning his tournament with an upset win against Ryan Palmer, Lahiri came very close to earning a win against Rose, but a stroke of brilliance from the latter denied him a win.
Jordan Spieth sent packing
Augusta Masters Champion Jordan Spieth was shown the door by Lee Westwood in a tensely fought match. Westwood came back from behind and ended the match with a two-up lead, after he birdied an important 12th hole.
World Number Rory McIlroy survived a scare against Billy Horschel, who took a lead after the first two holes. McIlroy, had, however, sealed his spot in the last 16 coming into the third round match.