Anirban Lahiri T2 in Memorial; Jack Nicklaus impressed

Anirban Lahiri made big strides this week to put his PGA TOUR season back on the rails with a spectacular performance.

2018
Anirban Lahiri of India

June 05, 2017: Anirban Lahiri showed his class yet again, with a stellar return of 69-65 over the weekend of the Memorial Tournament. The 90th ranked Indian helped himself to a second top ten finish this season and the first since the T3 finish in the CIMB Classic.

Jason Dufner capped a great week in Ohio with a three shot victory over Anirban (74-70-69-65) and Rickie Fowler. Dufner started the week with a pair of 65s, but a 77 on Saturday derailed him. The American made a remarkable recovery with a 68 on Sunday to end the week at 13-under 275.

Anirban Lahiri comes in for praise by Jack Nicklaus

Anirban’s host for the week, Jack Nicklaus was pretty impressed with the young Indian. “He is a very fine young man and member at the Bears Club,” said a beaming Nicklaus.

The T2 finish at Muirfield Village brings great relief to Anirban, who has missed cuts at four of his last six events on the PGA Tour. Anirban decided to take some time off after a 76 and 71 put him out early in the Dean & Deluca Invitational.

Anirban went off grid to concentrate on his game and the results this week have been spectacular. “I decided to just go off grid, meditate and train on my game,” said a clearly delighted Anirban. “I am happy it has worked for me.

I will take that any day, especially on this track. I am pretty happy,” Anirban told ESPN. “I went off the grid for the last ten days. I have been practicing mediatation and working on my game. It has worked for me.”

This was Anirban’s fourth top ten finish on the PGA TOUR. He has been brilliant this week as he held his own against the world class field in Ohio.

“I would have liked maybe four or five holes more, actually,” said Lahiri, joking about the upsurge in his form. “Because I was playing really good. And I could have probably made a couple more birdies. But like I say, I’m really happy with the way I played. I felt really relaxed out there.”

“There are holes out here you have to respect and you try to make those 10, 15-footers and if you do you get a score together,” added Lahiri. “And I think that’s what I did over the weekend and just tried to stay away from the bad spots.”

On Saturday, Anirban started to make his move. At the par-5 eleventh hole, Anirban’s tee shot ended up in the water. Unfazed, the Indian recovered to produce a par and prevent the tide from turning against him.

Anirban never looked back from there. His final round was a spotless effort that contained four birdies on the front nine and three more on the stretch home.

Join the Conversation