Wentworth test excites Anirban Lahiri

A special column by Anand Datla

May 21, 2015: As the golfers tee off this morning at the prestigious BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth, a galaxy of pedigreed stars will enchant golfing fans with some high quality golf. Among them, rising from the nebula of the Asian Tour, Anirban Lahiri will have yet another opportunity to strengthen his growing global profile.

Lahiri has been a steady hand on the PGA TOUR, showing great resilience and golfing nous during his debut season on the most flourishing golfing jungle on the planet.

Every golfer around the planet will agree that it takes a degree of adjustment to the game – especially in terms of managing the driver and irons as well as the pace of the putter – once they reach American shores.

Since finishing T24 at the HSBC Champions in September last season, the 27 year old Indian has been making these adjustments and learning the courses with every opportunity that has come his way.

Anirban is a thinking golfer with a strong mental makeup and these intrinsic abilities are helping the young man battle mind and body as he seeks to establish himself as a truly international golfer.

It is still early days and only time can judge how well Lahiri performs on the PGA and European calendars. But the first signs are very encouraging to say the least.

At the Masters, Anirban started off strongly, with a 71 under difficult conditions. But after giving away five shots through the next two rounds, the Indian displayed the kind of character that allows him to stand out from the crowd.

He played with an incredible amount of discipline and labour to eschew risks and finish with a bogey free 72 in the final round. Anirban’s monk like focus and warrior like determination to finish on his own terms was a great exhibition of purpose from an emerging golfer.

His third round 66 at the RBC Heritage and memorable battles with Ryan Palmer and Justin Rose at the WGC Cadillac Match Play further underlined Anirban’s ability to read the course and stand up to situations, irrespective of the nature of his competition.

At Wentworth this week, Anirban will have the company of Jeev Milkha Singh, SSP Chawrasia and Shiv Kapur. After being a lone ranger in the USA, the affable Bengali will cherish meeting his compatriots and share a few exploits from his journey across the Atlantic.

The world No.36 has been slotted to play alongside George Coetzee, the winner of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open. The young South African can drive a mile off the tee and attack the pins with gay abandon and Lahiri should benefit from his company around the course.

“I am looking forward to playing at BMW PGA at Wentworth. It is a superb golf course and quite easily the biggest event on the European Tour and one of the great event in world golf. I have played the practice round and Pro-Am and it is quite challenging. The ball flies much shorter here. The course also has lots of doglegs and the tee shots can be very tricky,” said the Indian.

A top 20 finish this week will do Anirban a world of good before he returns to the WGC in Ohio and the US Open.

Follow Us: Twitter.com/GolfingIndian

Join Us: Facebook.com/GolfingIndian

Download Our APP Here