Anirban Lahiri starts the New Year on the PGA Tour by teeing off at the Sony Open this week. The 33-year-old Indian, who joined the PGA Tour in 2015 is still looking for his maiden win on the world’s strongest Tour.
Lahiri, whose last worldwide win came in India at the Hero Indian Open in 2015, will tee off 2021 at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu in Hawaii. It is an event he has played three times and missed cut twice in it.
Soon after finishing his engagements in the US in November, Lahiri returned home and played a couple of events in India and lost in a play-off in one of them. He had two fine finishes before coming to India and one of them was his first Top-10 in more than 18 months.
In recent times, Lahiri has done well on the Islands – he was T-6 at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship in the Dominican Republic and T-11 in the Bermuda Championship. So he will be hoping that Hawaii and the Sony Open could bring in some more good news.
His results towards the end of 2020 saw his rankings go up and that earned him spots in at least first three events beginning with the Sony Open.
Lahiri said, “The schedule (for 2021) so far is looking good. At the moment, I should get into the first four (events) starting with Sony Open, then the American Express and then Torrey Pines, and hopefully (Waste Management Open) Phoenix. Phoenix might be touch and go, but I think it's the same week as Saudi (European Tour) so I think I should get in.”
He added, “So yeah, I could actually continue playing but I think as of now, I'm planning on just playing the first four and let us see how it goes. I am feeling good with the game. And I would love to do well in Hawaii.”
The year 2020 was unlike none before in his life and it was the same. His form dipped and there were not enough tournaments, but the silver lining was that the status he had for 2020 was retained as per PGA Tour’s decision. “That was a big boost for many of us,” he said.
India trip
Lahiri, who had come to India to play the Hero Indian Open in March 2020, was forced to stay on in India as flights were stopped. He laughs and says, ”It was tough for my golf, but not all that bad, because I got to spend a lot of time with my family, which I normally don’t get. Also I managed to get a lot of time with my coach, Vijay Divecha and work on my game and that helped.”
Lahiri returned to US, but got only one more event before the 2019-20 season got over for him. Then came the Fall season and things turned for the better.
Starting with the Safeway Open he got in four starts and made cuts in all including in the Dominican Republic and Bermuda.
He added, “The (second) trip to India was good. I didn't spend that much time with Vijay, but we kind of went over everything that we had done earlier and kind of consolidated, some of the work. Also, it was nice to play some tournaments Chandigarh and Jamshedpur (on the Indian Tour).”
About the India trip in December, Lahiri said, “The golf was good, but I also put on weight in India, eating all the yummy food. It was generally a good time with family and friends,” he added.
“Since I've come back (to the US) I've gotten back in the gym to get that weight off. So I was just trying to get back to my routine. Get in the gym; get on the range play some golf and get myself prepared and ready to go. So, so far so good. It was a nice Christmas and New Years with my family and then some of our friends, Indian friends will live in America. So it was good. I think the last month or so has been has been good for me both on and off the golf course. And, you know, hoping that 2021 is a good year for everyone really, and also for golf in general.”