India's Anirban Lahiri charges late to grab Players Championship lead over Harold Varner, Tom Hoge

Anirban Lahiri was once so intimidated by the thought of trying to hit a golf ball off the ground, he asked his father to buy him a 7-wood.

Through his 47 holes of The Players Championship, on one of the most feared golf courses in the world, there’s nothing that seems to scare him.

A native of India, which has produced only one other PGA Tour winner, Lahiri birdied his first two holes in Sunday’s suspended third round at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, then added four more birdies among his last six to grab The Players lead at 9-under par, one shot over Harold Varner III and Tom Hoge at 8-under and two shots clear of Sam Burns, Paul Casey and Sebastian Munoz.

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Lahiri two-putted for his last birdie at the par-5 11th hole before the round was suspended because of darkness at 7:32 p.m. He had struggled to a 73 to complete his second round earlier in the day but knocked in birdie putts of 10 and 1 feet at Nos. 1 and 2, made two short stabs for birdie at Nos. 6 and 8, and poured in a 25-footer for birdie at No. 9.

Varner, who had four birdies and two bogeys, and Hoge have finished nine holes, Munoz 14 and Burns nine.

The shot of the day was a hole-in-one at No 17 by 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry, who spun his tee shot on the Island Green into the cup for the 10th ace there in Players history and the first since Ryan Moore in 2019. Lowry is 4-under for the day and tied for 11th, four shots back.

The 34-year-old native of Pune, India and a resident of Palm Beach Gardens, Lahiri is the tournament leader in the PGA Tour’s strokes gained index and was especially on form in the third round, hitting 10 of 11 greens.

“Made a lot of good swings today, just kept it in front of me, made good decisions,” said the 18-time international winner, 10 in his native country. “It was a great day. I’m just happy that I’m playing well … happy I’m hitting my irons well. When you are in that state of mind, you usually play well and that’s what’s happening.”

The first native of India to win on the PGA Tour was Arjun Atwal in the 2010 Wyndham Championship.

Lahiri was introduced to the game by his father, a doctor in the Indian Army, and played for the most part at golf courses on Indian Army bases.

He said he had to play a golf tournament for the first time without preferred lies at the age of 10, at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club.

“Just seeing a ball sitting down flat on the ground was a little intimidating,” he said. “I had to ask my dad to buy me a 7-wood because I wasn't sure I could get it up in the air. I'm just being honest.”

After playing mostly in Asia once turning pro in 2008, Lahiri started getting attention in 2015 when he tied for fifth in the PGA Championship and played in the Presidents Cup. His finish in that PGA, at Whistling Straits, remains the best in a major by a player from India.

Needless to say, winning The Players would be a huge accomplishment in his native land.

“Who doesn’t want to win The Players?” he said.

Lahiri has struggled this season, his sixth as an exempt PGA Tour player, with seven missed cuts in 12 starts. His best finish was a tie for 40th in the World Wide Tech Championship and he’s coming off a tie for 74th in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, with rounds of 76-82 on the weekend.

“It’s the nature of what we do … it's unpredictable,” he said. “You just don't know. You grind away, you keep chipping away, you keep working on your game, and when it clicks, it clicks. It could be this week; it could be next week. As long as it happens, and that's the belief you've got to have, and that's the commitment you've got to have.”

Anyone winning this tournament will have earned it. Storms and rain delayed the completion of the first round until Saturday, and the second round ended shortly after 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Sunday dawned with a wind-chill factor in the high-20s but it was windy enough to prevent a frost delay, and the fierce breezes that had plagued the field on Saturday eased and turned the early portions of the third round into a birdie-fest.

The first groups out on each side have two holes left in their third rounds, and the final group of 36-hole co-leaders Tom Hoge and Sam Burns, and Harold Varner III, were making the turn when play was suspended.

Tour officials believe The Players is on target for a 6:30 p.m. finish on Monday, the first since 2005. Golf Channel will air the final round to completion, beginning at 8 a.m., which is the time the fan gates will open.

Those who had tickets to any previous competitive round this week will be admitted free. Parking is available on a first-come, first-served basis in the public lot on Country Road 210.

Varner and Hoge both birdied the par-5 ninth hole before play was suspended. Varner is seeking his first PGA Tour title and is brimming with confidence after hitting five of seven fairways and seven of nine greens on the front.

“Playing super-solid,” he said. “I feel like I've always got momentum … glass is half-full, always. I don't struggle with that part ever. Some people would call it arrogant. I think anyone that's playing a professional sport, it doesn't take much to get it going.”

Among the players on the first page of the leaderboard to watch are another former Open champion, Francesco Molinari (5-under through15 holes, 6-under for the tournament and in a tie for seventh), Cam Smith of Ponte Vedra Beach (6-under through 10 holes), Kevin Kisner (3-under through 12) and Patton Kizzire of St. Simons Island (5-under through 12) and Doc Redman of Ponte Vedra (2-under through 11).

Kizzire made a nice comeback from an embarrassing shank at No. 17, nearly the wrong Island – the one to the right of the Island Green. He made a double-bogey but then parred 18, turned and made three 3s in a row, highlighted by a 15-foot eagle putt at No. 2.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Players Championship Monday: Anirban Lahiri on top at TPC Sawgrass