Anirban Lahiri at his first NBA game

Miami, Fla. – On the eve of the first World Golf Championships of the year, players took a break from the course to watch the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers game. Players included: Morgan Hoffmann, Anirban Lahiri, Hunter Mahan, Lee Westwood, Joost Luiten, Bernd Weisberger and Matt Kuchar.

Thanks to @GreyGoose for hosting the @EuropeanTour & @PGATOUR players tonight #ELHeat #WGCCadillac pic.twitter.com/1eAtJMu9gZ

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) March 5, 2015

On behalf of Kuchar and his “nearly-made half-court shot” during the game, the Cadillac Championship donated $25,000 to United Way Miami-Dade, the primary charity of the tournament.

“I think he gave it a really great shot. I told him it was almost inches of going in and he was excited about it too. Obviously giving back to the community is very important and it’s a great initiative,” said European Tour standout Lahiri.

“I think it was very entertaining, the basketball was amazing. When you see it on TV, you don’t quite understand how fast it is, how big the guys are, and really how skilled they are. It was awesome,” said Lahiri.

Lahiri arrives to Miami hot off two wins in his last three European Tour starts and competes this week for the first time in the United States. Lahiri is currently No. 35 in the Official World Golf Ranking and joins an elite field at Trump National Doral, a course that ranked hardest on TOUR last year outside the majors.

“The tournament is huge. It’s awesome that I’m here and I’m playing. It’s a great golf course and really tough, but I’m really looking forward to the test,” said Lahiri. “Feel like I’m ready and my body clock feels seems to be coming back to where it should be. It’s all about putting it together now. “

In part to all the recent success, Lahir ranks inside the top 5 in The Presidents Cup International Team standings. Songdo, will play host to the Presidents Cup 2015 at the Jack Nicklaus GC in Korea, a place where Lahiri has warm feelings.

“One of the advantages that I probably have is that I played in Korea five or six times before so I know what to expect in terms of the conditions and things like that. Obviously still a long time to go so I just got to knuckle down and play some solid golf for the next few months,” he said.

This week is the perfect opportunity to continue his charge to continue to rise in the world rankings. If he can climb eight places to No. 27, he would become the highest-ranked Indian in history (Jeev Milkha Singh rose to World No. 28 in March 2009).