Kapur, Lahiri stage comeback on back nine at BMW PGA Round

Shiv Kapur and Anirban Lahiri fought back hard in the closing stages to finish their first round respectably as the Indians made a modest start to their campaign at the BMW PGA Championships.

Kapur was the only Indian under par at two-under 70 while Lahiri and Jeev Milkha Singh shot <g data-gr-id="18">even par</g> 72 and the fourth Indian in the field, SSP <g data-gr-id="17">Chawrasia</g> had a bumpy back nine as he ended at one-over 73. Kapur was tied 13th while Lahiri and Jeev were tied 34th and <g data-gr-id="19">Chawrasia</g> was tied 62nd.

World No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy shot one-under 71 with four birdies and three bogeys.

Sweden’s Robert Karlsson (67) had two birdies in last three holes to take sole lead at five-under while evergreen Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jorge Campillo, Chris <g data-gr-id="24">Wood</g> and Korea’s Y.E.Yang were tied second with rounds of four-under 68 each. Also at four-under were Francesco Molinari and Marc Warren, but they had six and nine holes respectively to play. India’s <g data-gr-id="25">top ranked</g> star, Lahiri closed with a hat-trick of <g data-gr-id="22">birdies,</g> while Kapur fought his way back from a disastrous <g data-gr-id="26">triple bogey</g> on the back nine. After being two-under through 12, Kapur’s triple on 13th was a big setback. But the 32-year-old, still looking for his maiden European Tour title birdied the 14th, 16th and 17th for a brilliant fight back before closing with a par on a course that has two par-fives in succession on 17th and 18th.