By Rahul Banerji
Anirban Lahiri, India’s only regular card-holder on the apex PGA Tour, climbed to 55th place in the FedEx Cup standings on the back of his tied 15th place finish on Sunday at the Mexico Open.
Barring a third-round slip that saw him card a level par 72, Lahiri had rounds of 68, 68 and 66 at Puerto Vallarta to finish seven shots behind event winner Jon Rahm of Spain.
It was Lahiri’s third top-20 finish since the epochal second placing at the Players Championship behind Australia’s Cameron Smith in March.
At the $8.6 million Texas Valero Open last month, he was tied for 13th place just five shots behind the winner, J.J. Spaum.
World no. 2 Rahm (64-66-68-69) was one shot ahead of Americans Brandon Wu (69-70-66-63), Tony Finau (71-68-66-63) and Kurt Kitayama (64-70-66-68) on 17-under 267 at Vallerta.
Worthwhile outing
Lahiri’s closing 5-under 66 was bogey-free and helped retain his 85th place in the world rankings.
Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira (67-69-67-71, 274) was alongside Lahiri in 15th place on 10-under 276 with C.T. Pan of Taipei, Korea’s Sung Kang and Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand finishing down the order.
The $7.3 million Mexico Open was Rahm’s seventh career PGA Tour victory and marked his sixth consecutive season with at least one title and came in his 123rd start.
Interestingly, Finau’s runner-up placing was the ninth time he has finished one behind the winner in his PGA Tour resume while both Wu and Kitayama brought home their best career placings.
Lahiri lines up next in the field for the Wells Fargo Championship at TPC Potomac in Maryland from Thursday hoping to build on his recent solid run.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland will defend his 2021 title at the $9 million event.
Also read: Anirban Lahiri fires event-best 67 at Players Championship
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