TEXT BY PGATOUR.COM
Anirban Lahiri has known since February that he would make his Masters debut this year. His invitation didn’t come until last week, though.
He hasn’t had a chance to hold the green-and-white card that is golf’s version of Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. He has seen a photo of that important piece of mail, though, and a glance at the latest Official World Golf Ranking confirms that next week he will indeed walk inside the gates of golf’s hallowed grounds for the first time.
The top 50 players in Monday’s edition of the Official World Golf Ranking earned Masters invitations. Lahiri is ranked 33rd. He sealed his standing with wins at the national opens of Malaysia and his home country, India, earlier this year.
His late entry into the Masters means he won’t visit Augusta National for the first time until next week. He hasn’t seen the course much on television, either. The tournament is televised during the early morning hours in India, usually starting around 2 a.m., and ending approximately four hours later.
“Most guys in India know what the first hole looks like and they know what the back nine looks like,” Lahiri said. “I’m actually a bit clueless as to what the golf course is actually like.”
Lahiri, 27, has made it clear that a PGA TOUR card is his goal this year. He’ll earn exemptions into the majors, World Golf Championships and invitationals (i.e. RBC Heritage, the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide) as long as he can stay in the world’s top 50.
Lahiri, who finished second on last year’s Asian Tour Order of Merit, has made three TOUR starts this season, finishing tied for 52nd at the CIMB Classic, T28 at the WGC-HSBC Champions and T71 at the WGC-Cadillac Championship.
This week is the start of a five-month journey for Lahiri, who also plays on the European and Asian tours. He advanced through last year’s European Tour Q-School, and the Malaysian and Indian opens were co-sanctioned by both circuits. Some European Tour starts will be sprinkled among his PGA TOUR events in the upcoming months.
“It’s going to be a lot of hotels, a lot of looking at the same suitcase every day for a long time,” Lahiri said. “I opened up my closet (last week) and I’m saying, ‘Oh, (expletive), I can’t really take a lot of stuff with me. I wanted to take all six pairs of shoes. I can’t. I want to take this jacket or I want to take that shirt. I can’t.
“I spoke to a lot of my friends who live here or have lived here and they said, ‘Just take your essentials and go buy stuff.’”
He’s playing this week on a sponsor exemption. It’s a start that comes with multiple benefits. The Shell Houston Open has embraced its identity as the Masters’ undercard. The Golf Club of Houston tries to emulate Augusta’s fast greens and low rough. Lahiri has little experience on rye grass. This is another week to get used to jet lag, too. He arrived Saturday evening; his flight from India to Texas was approximately 20 hours. And, of course, this week is another opportunity to earn the FedExCup points necessary to earn his TOUR card for next season.
