New Delhi, 27-07-2015
LAHIRI BACK IN WORLD'S TOP-50, WIDENS LEAD IN ASIAN TOUR'S ORDER OF MERIT RACE
CLIMBS UP TO 9TH IN INTERNATIONAL TEAM STANDINGS FOR PRESIDENTS CUP
Indian star Anirban Lahiri’s fifth-place finish at the European Masters last week has helped him make his way back into the top-50 of the world rankings. Lahiri climbed 11 places from 61 to 50 in the latest world rankings list released on Monday. Importantly, Anirban also soared from 11th to ninth position in the latest International Team standings for the Presidents Cup.
The 28-year-old also stretched his lead in the race for the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit title to US$ 548,348 following his brilliant performance at the European Tour & Asian Tour co-sanctioned event in Switzerland.
Anirban, already a winner of two events this season, picked up a cheque of US$ 123,956 on Sunday to raise his season’s tally to US$ 925,484, well clear of second-placed Andrew Dodt of Australia.
Another Indian, S.S.P. Chawrasia is third on the Merit list with earnings of US$ 267,244 for the season.
It’s been a gradual progression for Lahiri in Asia. After ending the last two seasons in third and second place on the Order of Merit, the Bangalore lad is currently very well-placed to be crowned as Asia’s number one this year. If he does achieve the feat, he would be the fourth Indian to do so after Jyoti Randhawa (2002), Arjun Atwal (2003) and Jeev Milkha Singh (2006 & 2008).
The tenacious Indian is also aiming to become only the third player in Asian Tour history to surpass the US$ 1 million earnings barrier in a single season, achieved thus far by countryman Jeev Milkha Singh and Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand.
“I’m going to play in at least four to five events on the Asian Tour towards the end of the year. Hopefully I can keep playing well and it’ll be nice to finally get over the line. I finished third in 2013 and second last year. So winning the Order of Merit this year would be nice,” said Lahiri, who achieved his career-high world-ranking of 33 earlier this year.
Lahiri’s top-5 at the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club accounted for his first top-10 finish following his purple patch in February where he won the Maybank Malaysian Open and Hero Indian Open in a span of three weeks.
With several big ticket events, including the CIMB Classic and WGC-HSBC Champions, scheduled towards the end of the year, Anirban was delighted to hit his straps at Crans Montana last week, especially with his final round fireworks display.
“I’m happy to be playing well again. I had a very good start to the year and played well in the beginning but I didn’t play anywhere near my best after that. I feel like my form is coming back. It’s an important time of the year and hopefully I can keep this going,” said Lahiri, who finished tied 30th at The Open at St Andrews two weeks back.
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