Rio Olympics 2016, Golf: SSP Chawrasia remains resolute, Anirban Lahiri's struggles continue
The second day of golf at the Olympics saw the golfers battle torrid weather conditions to put in fighting totals. At the end of the first day, Marcus Fraser of Australia held a two stroke lead over Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.
Having had such an exceptional day, Marcus Fraser was always going to be close to the top unless he had a bad round. While he did not set the course alight on day 2, a solid performance of -2 under par 69 was enough to see him retain the lead at the halfway stage.
Fraser’s birdie on the 18th helped him keep the outright lead, one stroke ahead of young 24 year old Thomas Pieters of Belgium. The Belgian enjoyed a great day, bettering his total on day 1 with a -5 under par 66 on day 2.
Plenty was expected of Henrik Stenson, with many experts predicting a medal for the Swede. He didn’t disappoint either, with a -3 under 68 enough to see him secure third place.
Gregory Bourdy of France, Justin Rose of Great Britain, Rafael Bello-Carbera of Spain and Graham DeLaet of Canada maintained the pace to ensure they are within sights of a medal. The day belonged to Danny Lee of New Zealand however, who put in a scorching day’s best of -6 under par 65 to climb up the leaderboard to 6th place.
SSP Chawrasia started poorly on day 2 with a bogey on the 2nd and a double bogey on the 3rd hole before recovering with 4 birdies in the next 6 holes. He couldn’t keep up his momentum on the back 9 with 2 further bogeys pegging him back, before he finished with a birdie on the 17th to end even-par for the day and the tournament at 30th place.
Anirban Lahiri’s torrid time at the Olympic Golf Course continued. India’s hope for a medal while entering the tournament returned with a disappointing +2 over par on day 2 to take his total to +5 over for the event at 51st place. He languishes dangerously close to the bottom of the table.