India’s Anirban Lahiri is confident that he is on the road to top form following a first top-10 on the PGA Tour in nearly two years with a T6 finish at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic yesterday.
The 33-year-old closed his week with a two-under-par 70 to finish on 13-under 275, five shots behind winner Hudson Swafford. In the opening event of the 2020-21 season, the Safeway Open two weeks ago, Lahiri finished T36 on 12-under-par despite opening with a 74.
“I felt really good after my first event in Napa. I had two really good rounds to finish that event as well, so I got it rolling here with some of that. Definitely, I’ve managed to build that snowball and build some momentum. Hopefully I use this going forward and kind of keep this going and maybe even play a little better,” said Lahiri, whose last top-10 result came at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico in November 2018.
When Lahiri entered the week, he did not book a return flight to his home base in Florida and instead registered for a seat on the charter plane to this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship, even though he was ninth reserve when entries closed last Friday. The top-10 performance ensured him a start at the upcoming event.
“I did not book a return flight and I booked myself on the charter, so this is going to be good for my confidence because I backed myself to do this,” noted Lahiri, who won the Maybank Malaysian Open in 2015 en route to topping the Asian Tour Order of Merit that year.
Lahiri did not have the best of starts this week, going four-over through his opening three holes on Thursday before fighting back for an opening 69. He followed it up with a 72 before lighting up the course with a flawless 64 on Saturday which pushed him up the leaderboard.
“The last couple of seasons, I’ve been very disappointing, and where I find myself in my eligibility is not great, so I need to play myself into some of the events that I like to play. Definitely have a lot of opportunities in the fall that I need to take and build on that.
“Hopefully get closer to being really in contention on Sunday. I’ve had outside chances, but the goal is to kind of get to the last few with a realistic chance or maybe even a lead,” said Lahiri, who ranked first in putting average per green in regulation for the week.
