Web.com Tour Finals – Anirban Lahiri hunts for a PGA Tour card

Anirban Lahiri is playing the Web.com Tour Finals in a bid to earn his PGA Tour Card for 2016

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Lahiri-Getty-PGA Tour Image

September 10, 2015: Standing at 18th tee of the PGA Championship, Anirban Lahiri had plenty racing through his head. In a season that has been nothing short of a whirlwind, the Indian was playing not only the final hole of a major championship, but also the last of his 12 event ride on the PGA Tour. Needing an even par or better, Lahiri stumbled to a bogey that dropped him into a tie for fifth and burnt his dreams of earning a card for 2016.

But Lahiri is made up of some good steel. The team did some quick math to figure that a card could still be possible if he did well enough on the Web.com Tour Finals. The Finals is a four event junket that affords a second chance to everyone that finishes the series inside the top 25.

The challenge for Lahiri though is that one dream stands in the way of another. He had long wanted to make the international team to the biennial Presidents Cup and in earning his ticket to Korea, ended up with a scheduling conflict. With the fourth event on the Finals happening to be in the week before the Presidents Cup, Lahiri decided to go for it by playing just three of the four events in the series.

As he tees off later today at the Sycamore Hills Golf Club, Lahiri will need to be at the top of his game to stand a chance of accumulating enough points to remain inside the top 25. It is do or die for Lahiri as he pursues a PGA Tour card for next season. Lahiri might still be afforded several exemptions next year considering his steady performances this year, but being a man of his own making, he would like to play on merit.

“I didn’t want to be here, honestly,” admitted Lahiri, about the Web.com Tour Finals. “The goal was to try to get my status in the limited starts I had this year … When I kind of wound down after the (PGA Championship), we did all the math, and it was apparent I would have to come out to the Finals to get my card.”

“It’s strange because up until August, I didn’t know what I was doing in September,” added Lahiri. “It has been a crazy scheduling year for me.” All of that might be a thing of the past if he can play well through the next few weeks, starting with Hotel Fitness Championships.

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