Augusta, Georgia, April 10: Confidence comes naturally to Anirban Lahiri. The 28 year old Indian is eager to underline the fact that he belongs among elite golfers. His demeanour, his speech and his golf are all built around this desire to establish a place for himself on the biggest stages of golf. Augusta National has been draining for Anirban and at 12-over through seven on Sunday, he must be itching to get to the 18th green as soon as possible.
There is an obvious sense of pride at sharing space with the best golfers in the world. And he makes an effort to ensure that he carries himself and plays to the highest standards.
He has been enduring a difficult week at the Augusta National Golf Club this week. But he is not one to let his guard down. “Well, I played good and shot three-over and I had three three-putts, so it is not as if I played badly,” he told the media, just after his round on Saturday. “I just did not score and didn’t get the putts to fall,” added a defiant Lahiri after yet another disappointing round yesterday.
After ending the Masters last year with 25 straight pars (wrap your head around that feat), it has been a constant grind this week. Scores of 76-73-75 are an indication of both the challenges he has dealt with this week, as well as his strength of mind.
Lahiri is far from his best, affected as he is by a lack of consistency that has haunted his golf this week. Good tee shots have been followed by poor approaches and when both of those worked, he has been let down by some ordinary putting.
The intensity of the tournament, the demands of this course and weather conditions have all combined to chip away at his mind and game. “It is like writing an exam,” he inferred. “You need to just grind it out for four and a half hours and it is not easy. You cannot letup, even a moment. It is really difficult conditions out there.”
The fact that his scores aren’t worse than they are is a result of Anirban’s naturally resilient character. But even with those soft resources at his disposal, it has not been easy to stay the course for 18 holes each day.
“Through this week, I have played well enough for 13-14 holes and then had a weak finish and given away a lot of shots each day,” explained Anirban. “It can be mentally exhausting when you have to check so many things like lie, ball flight and the erractic winds. With the wind changing ever so frequently, it is like being in a Brain Gym all the time. There is no option but to be patient.”
There have been positives too. At the 18th on Friday, Anirban nearly made the putt from off the green, reading the line to near perfection. The ball broke just at the right point on the topside, before settling just a few feet behind the pin. And then there was a fabulous birdie putt from 40 feet on the 7th hole on Saturday.
“That 40-footer on the seventh was a bit of a bonus. It was one of those things, when you are trying to lag the putt for a two-putt and it just went in,” said the 50th ranked golfer.
Another area that troubled him this week was his inability to manage the par-5 holes. There are four of them – 2, 8, 13 & 15. “I have not scored off the par-fives the way I should have.” Three bogeys and two birdies isn’t exactly the result that can help on a course like this.
Anirban will be taking a two week break in Florida, where he has acquired a new home recently. He plans to enjoy the break and work on his game with Vijay Divecha, his coach. With his commitments on the PGA TOUR and the Olympics in Rio, Anirban has his hands full this season.
One shall hope that Anirban can use the break well to hone his game and chase a PGA TOUR victory in his rookie season.
Note – Anirban was playing the ninth hole on Masters Sunday at the time of publishing this feature
