By Rahul Banerji
Anirban Lahiri is returning to India to get some competitive golf and has entered for the upcoming Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational in Chandigarh and the PGTI year-ending event in Jamshedpur.
Unable to break into packed fields in the US, India’s only regular face on the PGA Tour will play the TAKE-sponsored Rs 1.5 crore event at Chandigarh Golf Club as a tournament sponsor invitee.
According to Dubai-based golf writer Joy Chakravarty, Lahiri will fly home for Jeev’s event that runs from December 3 to 6. He then is slated to play in the Tata Steel Tour Championship in Jamshedpur from December 17 to 20.
Stellar field
Lahiri will be alongside European Tour members Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia and fellow-invitee Gaganjeet Bhullar besides the host, playing under the international exemptions category.
The field for the Jeev Milkha Singh Invitational 2020 presented by TAKE will be 112-strong and has a waiting list as long as your arm.
Tweeted Chakravarty, “The good news – also a bad one for golf fans – is that @anirbangolf has decided to ask @JeevMilkhaSingh for a spot in his event and will travel 13,600kms to Chandigarh for it.
“This comes after he failed to get into the @MayakobaGolf on @PGATOUR.
He added: “You’ve got to feel for @anirbangolf because he is playing superb golf and needs more playing opportunities.
“He has also done well in Mayakoba, with a previous top-10 finish there. But the @PGATOUR fields are chockablock and he is not getting in with his current status.”
In his last four PGA Tour starts, Lahri had a tied 36th at the Safeway Open, a tied sixth in Dominca, T37 at the Sanderson Farma Championship and most recently, a tied 11th at the Bermuda Championship early this month.
A top-10 finish would have given the 33-year-old entry to the Houston Open the following week.
Since then, Lahiri played the Monday Qualifier for the just-concluded RSM Classic along with Arjun Atwal, but neither made the grade.
Tej leads Eagleton event
Meanwhile, in Bangalore, Tej Gangavarapu overcame a rocky start for a level par 72 and a one shot first round lead in the Eagleton Champions Golf Tournament at the Eagleton Golf Resort.
Current national champion Aryan Roopa Anand and Ananjan Kaushik are just behind him in the Teen Boys and Amateur (combined category).
Sneha Sharan and Vidhatri Urs with 1-over 73s led the Teen Girls and Amateur category. while winner of the first leg Avani Prashanth was three shots off the lead.
Tej, who hails from Hyderabad and trains with Tarun Sardesai at the TSG Academy near Bangalore, began with a double bogey but recovered with birdie on the fourth hole and eagle on the seventh.
In between he had two more bogeys to make the turn at 1-over. Tej’s back nine was marked with two birdies and a bogey to nullify the deficit of the front nine.
Top scores (after 18 holes)
Teen Boys & Amateurs: 72 Tej Gangavarapu; 73 Aryan Roopa Anand, Ananjan Kaushik; 74 Dhruv Bopanna, Milind Soni, Akshay Neranjen; 78 Suraj Joshi, Kaushal Karupakula, Arnav Chatterjee
Teen Girls & Amateurs: 73 Sneha Sharan, Vidhatri Urs; 76 Avani Prashanth; 78 Jasmine Shekhar; 79 Prakruthi Sastry.
Also read: Lahiri takes share of 11th place at Bermuda C’ship
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