Lahiri (70-67-70-68) kept up the intensity through the week
with his four sub-par rounds and signed off with a tournament total of
13-under-275 to finish seven strokes behind eventual champion Jason Day of Australia .
It’s been a meteoric rise for Anirban on the international
stage since he won his first Asian Tour event on home soil back in 2011. He
continued to enjoy success in Asian Tour events staged in India , adding
two more titles to his kitty in the following two years. The year 2014 finally
saw him triumph overseas with victories in Indonesia
and Macau .
However, it is 2015 that has been the watershed season for
the Bangalore
lad so far. Playing his rookie season on the European Tour, Lahiri notched up
two titles, the Malaysian Open and Indian Open, early in 2015, to rise up to
his career-best world ranking of 33. On Sunday, he made a statement at the
highest level of the sport, by finishing inside the top-5 at the year’s final
Major.
Anirban’s breathtaking performance at his seventh Major has
not only brought him the international limelight but also significantly raised
the stature of Indian golf. Lahiri is now likely to make big gains in the world
rankings where he currently stands at 53 and in the European Tour Race to Dubai where he’s ranked
eighth. He will also seal his spot in the International Team for the Presidents
Cup, another first for India .
Anirban, already in a commanding position in the Asian Tour Order of Merit, is
likely to build an unassailable lead there.
Lahiri, who was overnight tied eighth and six off the lead
at Whistling Straits, came out all guns blazing in round four with four birdies
on the front-nine. He sank three birdies from a range of 17 to 23 feet and
narrowly missed an eagle on the par-4 sixth where he drove the green. The
3-putt from 5 feet on the 10th which led to a bogey and came against the
run of play was probably the only dampener in his round.
Anirban capitalized on both par-5s on the back-nine, the 11th and
16th, by picking up birdies. He had reached as high as tied third after the 16th.
The Indian star also made some important par saves on the fourth, 12th and
17th to keep the momentum going. Finally, the bogey on the closing 18th couldn’t
stop him from finishing in the top-5.
Lahiri thus improved upon his previous best of tied 30th at
the Majors which he only achieved at last month’s British Open. This was his
sixth Major in a row. Anirban’s performance this week will further raise his
hopes of representing India
Press release
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