Lahiri qualifies for US Open after finishing 2nd at Sectional meet

Bengaluru, June 4 (IANS) Former Asia number one and two-time European Tour winner Anirban Lahiri qualified for his third US Open and 16th Major championship after securing second position at the Sectional Qualifying event held on Monday at the Brookside Golf & Country Club and Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio in the United States.

The 31-year-old Lahiri, a PGA Tour regular, earned a berth at next week's Major after compiling a total of 10-under-132 in two rounds in one of the 10 Sectional Qualifying events held on Monday. Anirban finished one shot behind American Luke Guthrie who topped the leaderboard.

The top 14 players qualified out of a total field of 121. Shubhankar Sharma, the other Indian in the field in Columbus, missed out on qualifying as he totalled two-under-140.

Olympian Lahiri, currently ranked 245 in the world, made a decent start to the qualifying event after he fired a three-under-67 in his first round played at the Scioto Country Club. The man with two Presidents Cup appearances for the International Team then turned it on with an error-free seven-under-65 in his second round played at the Brookside Golf & Country Club that finally helped him make the grade.

Lahiri, the Indian with most Major appearances, returns to the US Open after three years. The event is scheduled to be held at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California, from June 13-16.

Lahiri had missed the cut in his previous two appearances at the US Open in 2015 and 2016. He will now be keen to set the record straight at the only Major where he hasn't made the cut so far.

Lahiri, whose tied fifth at the 2015 PGA Championship is still the best finish achieved by an Indian at a Major, has so far had a quiet PGA Tour season having posted a solitary top-10 and two other top-30s.