Dublin, Ohio, 04-06-2017
Lahiri posts career-best tied second on PGA Tour thanks to sizzling final round 65 at The Memorial Tournament
Earns highest ever prize money cheque, climbs to 65 in world ranking, 44 in FedExCup standings
Anirban Lahiri’s sensational seven-under-65 in the final round of The Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, earned him a career-best tied second finish on the PGA Tour.
Lahiri got better with each round as he shot scores of 74, 70, 69 and 65. As a result, he also kept zooming up the leaderboard from tied 63rd to tied 40th to tied 27th to finally tied second at 10-under-278.
Anirban’s error-free effort on the final day saw him gain 25 places as he finished three shots behind the eventual champion Jason Dufner of the United States.
Lahiri, who shared second place with another American Rickie Fowler, picked up his highest ever prize money cheque of US$ 765,600 at the event worth US$ 8.7 million.
The winner of seven international titles has now progressed to 65th in the world rankings, an improvement of 25 spots from his previous 90th place.
However, he narrowly missed out on qualifying for the year's second Major, the US Open, as only the top-60 in the world rankings as of June 4 were eligible to qualify for the event.
Anirban, whose previous best finish on the PGA Tour was tied third at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia earlier this season, has now skyrocketed from 92nd to 44th place in the FedexCup Standings thus all but sealing his card on the PGA Tour for next season.
The 29-year-old Indian star, a two-time European Tour winner, who was also Asia No. 1 in 2015, rolled in a couple of putts from 15 to 20 feet and also landed it within eight feet for birdie on as many as four occasions at the Muirfield Village on Sunday, to make an outstanding final day charge.
Lahiri’s best ever result on American soil, signals his return to form as he had missed the cut in four of his last six outings since his tied fifth finish at the Hero Indian Open in March.
“I think as the week’s progressed, I’ve gotten more comfortable. The first day, as well, I think I hit it good but just got out of position a few times. And then Friday was critical for me. I think I putted really well. And that’s been probably the scratchy part of my game. Once I got that confidence, I wasn’t putting that much pressure on myself to hit it every time.
“I haven’t played well out here the last couple of months. I’ve been pretty harsh on myself. I’ve beat myself up pretty bad. And coming into this week I just decided to be nice to myself and go out there and enjoy my golf, which I found wasn’t happening as often as it should. And it’s been great weather. And it’s a great golf course. So I just went out and had fun,” said Lahiri.
Anirban has now also strengthened his bid for a berth in the International Team for the 2017 Presidents Cup scheduled to be held in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, from September 26 to October 1 this year.
“Obviously I want to be on the Presidents Cup team. There’s no way I wouldn’t want to be on Nick’s (Captain Nick Price) team. I have unfinished business. I’ve said that before. I would like nothing better than go out there and get points,” Lahiri said.
He added, “There’s so much things you can push for. You can push for the U.S. Open. I haven’t played a major or WGC this year. Like I said, I beat myself up a little bit because I played 10 consecutive majors and now I’m not in any major yet. I should get into the last one (PGA Championship), hopefully.
“But that kind of plays on your mind. You feel like you’re going backwards. So you just have to gather yourself and go back to what you have been doing. And I think that’s where I find myself. So I’m just doing that, just going to focus on my golf, be good to myself and let the results take care of themselves,” said Lahiri, who’s tied second finish is the next best by an Indian on the PGA Tour after Arjun Atwal’s win at the 2010 Wyndham Championship.
Elsewhere, at the European Tour’s Nordea Masters in Sweden, SSP Chawrasia finished a respectable tied 30th at two-under-290 while Shiv Kapur claimed tied 41st at even-par-292.
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