Anirban Lahiri was five-under for his third round through 11 holes and will resume with a one-shot lead at the Players Championship. AP
Anirban Lahiri was five-under for his third round through 11 holes and will resume with a one-shot lead at the Players Championship. AP
Anirban Lahiri was five-under for his third round through 11 holes and will resume with a one-shot lead at the Players Championship. AP
Anirban Lahiri was five-under for his third round through 11 holes and will resume with a one-shot lead at the Players Championship. AP

Anirban Lahiri takes Players Championship lead ahead of hectic Monday finish


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India's Anirban Lahiri birdied three of his last four holes to seize a one-stroke lead before darkness halted Sunday's third round of the storm-hit Players Championship.

Lahiri made six birdies against a lone bogey to reach 5-under through 11 holes at TPC Sawgrass and stand on 9-under overall, one stroke ahead of Americans Tom Hoge and Harold Varner entering a Monday shootout at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

"I'm just being in the moment right now. I'm really happy. I'm confident," Lahiri said. "You grind away, keep chipping away, keep working on your game, and when it clicks, it clicks."

Two days of torrential rain followed by fierce winds on Saturday delayed play so some golfers must go 27 holes on Monday to finish the tournament.

Lahiri, 34, seeks his biggest career title after European Tour victories in 2015 at the Malaysian and Indian Opens.

"It definitely would be a career highlight," Lahiri said. "This is the next thing to winning a major."

World No 322 Lahiri seeks his first PGA Tour title and the first by any Indian player since Arjun Atwal's 2010 triumph at Greensboro. He said it would mean a lot to his homeland because people could watch it there.

"It would be huge," Lahiri said. "With every shot live, it makes a big difference because people get to watch me play. It's not every week you play well, but you play well in a week where people can actually see you play, it makes a bigger difference."

Varner is also aiming for his first PGA Tour title while Hoge captured his first only last month at Pebble Beach. Each has nine holes remaining in the third round.

Lahiri's day began in the second round in cold barely above freezing and he made three bogeys before an eagle at the par-5 11th in the second round.

Paul Casey is two shots off the lead at 7-under. AFP
Paul Casey is two shots off the lead at 7-under. AFP

"I'm not used to playing in temps like that. I couldn't feel anything in my fingers, my toes," Lahiri said. "Felt like I made good swings but they came out sideways and I missed a few putts.

"It kind of warmed up a little bit and I got a hold of what I wanted to do on the greens. Just making the three on 11 kind of gave me the momentum I needed to turn my day around."

In the third round, Lahiri made an 11-foot birdie putt at the first hole and tapped in for birdie at the par-5 second. He sank a 10-foot birdie putt at the sixth, rolled in a four-footer at the par-3 eighth and sank a birdie putt from just inside 25 feet at the par-5 ninth.

Lahiri found the left trees off the 10th tee and made a bogey to start the back nine, but bounced back with a tap-in birdie at 11, making him the man to beat with nine rivals lurking three or less back.

"I feel like I'm swinging well," Lahiri said. "I've got to pull the right clubs, make the right shots and just hit it. There's going to be lot of fiddly shots, a lot of uncomfortable shots and I've just got to commit. The few bad shots I hit today was either a bad club that I pulled or a shot I wasn't committed."

England's Paul Casey, sharing fourth on 7-under through nine holes with American Sam Burns and Colombia's Sebastian Munoz, would be the second-oldest Players champion at 44. He has gone 42 holes without a bogey.

"We started in the dark and got home in the dark. But in between I played some pretty good stuff," Casey said. "I've got momentum."

Ireland's Shane Lowry aced the famed par-3 17th island hole with a wedge from 124 yards in round three. It was the 10th ace at the hole, the first since Ryan Moore in the first round in 2019 and was the Irishman's second PGA Tour ace after one at the 2016 Masters.

The Uefa Awards winners

Uefa Men's Player of the Year: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Uefa Women's Player of the Year: Lucy Bronze (Lyon)

Best players of the 2018/19 Uefa Champions League

Goalkeeper: Alisson (Liverpool)

Defender: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Midfielder: Frenkie de Jong (Ajax)

Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Uefa President's Award: Eric Cantona

WOMAN AND CHILD

Director: Saeed Roustaee

Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi

Rating: 4/5

Museum of the Future in numbers
  •  78 metres is the height of the museum
  •  30,000 square metres is its total area
  •  17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
  •  14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
  •  1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior 
  •  7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
  •  2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
  •  100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
  •  Dh145 is the price of a ticket
Gertrude Bell's life in focus

A feature film

At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.

A documentary

A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.

Books, letters and archives

Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
 

Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

match info

Southampton 2 (Ings 32' & pen 89') Tottenham Hotspur 5 (Son 45', 47', 64', & 73', Kane 82')

Man of the match Son Heung-min (Tottenham)

SPECS
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Tonight's Chat on The National

Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.

Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.

Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.

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The biog

Favourite car: Ferrari

Likes the colour: Black

Best movie: Avatar

Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Toronto
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
​​​​​​​Release Date: April 10

ENGLAND SQUAD

Goalkeepers Henderson, Johnstone, Pickford, Ramsdale

Defenders Alexander-Arnold, Chilwell, Coady, Godfrey, James, Maguire, Mings, Shaw, Stones, Trippier, Walker, White

Midfielders Bellingham, Henderson, Lingard, Mount, Phillips, Rice, Ward-Prowse

Forwards Calvert-Lewin, Foden, Grealish, Greenwood, Kane, Rashford, Saka, Sancho, Sterling, Watkins 

The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Transmission: ten-speed

Power: 420bhp

Torque: 624Nm

Price: Dh325,125

On sale: Now

UAE v Gibraltar

What: International friendly

When: 7pm kick off

Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City

Admission: Free

Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page

UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)

Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm

Price: From Dh1,700,000

Available: Now

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Updated: March 14, 2022, 6:17 AM`