I'm not sure I understand your description, especially "top of sheetmetal".
The lanyard end eyelet is screwed into the fender flange extension (this "sheetmetal"?), then kinda hangs off the side of that flange and routes under the upper bumper support, through the gap between the bumper/grille.
The factory hole in the fender flange extension the size you indicate is 2" from where the lanyard screws, so if you routed it down this hole (instead of hanging it off the side) it would be on the "sheetmetal" for 2" worth.
Depending on the alignment of the fender and rubber pad underneath, this hole could slightly overlap the upper bumper support, so if they intended the lanyard to route through here it could have some really sharp bends.
Hijacked drawings from another thread here, shows bent lanyard, but no hole, and no specific instructions to route through the hole.