By Rahul Banerji
Anirban Lahiri will continue as a member of Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC for the 2024 LIV Golf League season having confirmed that he will stay with the team.
Lahiri, who was one of five players among the top 24 finishers in the “Lock Zone” who were guaranteed extensions with their 2023 teams but had the option to explore alternatives elsewhere.
Only Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz has opted to explore the free agency choice during the offseason after rejecting a contract extension offer from Fireballs GC.
The four others – Lahiri, Peter Uihlein (4Aces GC), Richard Bland (Cleeks GC) and Scott Vincent (Iron Heads GC) – opted to re-sign with their current teams, a report on livgolf.com said.
In the final individual standings, Lahiri finished 13th as the Crushers emerged overall champions. Uihlein was 12th, Bland 20th and Vincent 22nd amongst those making the Lock Zone cut.
Ortiz was 15th in the season-long individual standings and has chosen to look at his options going into 2024, leaving Sergio Garcia’s squad on the lookout to fill his slot as the Phase 2 Free Agency period got under way late last week.
The Fireballs’ top points scorer in 2023, Ortiz can now explore opportunities with the other teams, seven of which still have at least one open spot.
A further five players in the second-level “Open Zone:” – Matt Jones, Graeme McDowell, Pat Perez, David Puig and Bernd Wiesberger. – who are no longer under contract are available straightaway.
Bhullar closes in
Meanwhile, the ongoing BNI Indonesian Masters in Jakarta Golf Club is the last chance to seal a place via the Asian Tour in the LIV Golf Promotions event that will be played at Abu Dhabi Golf Club from December 8 to 10.
Tournament leader Gaganjeet Bhullar will climb into the top eight in the International Series if he completes the win in Indonesia and secure automatic qualification into round two of the three-day event in the UAE.
Also in line to make the grade on the back of a strong recent run is Chandigarh lad Karandeep Kochhar who could find himself in contention for a place in the first round that are available for those finishing in the 25 places behind the top eight.
Looking good for a top-five finish in Jakarta, Kochhar has made a wonderful late surge, including a shared fifth place at the Volvo China Open and a T25 at the Hong Kong Open in the last couple of weeks.
“To be brutally honest, the Promotions event wasn’t on my mind as I was outside the places, and I was trying to secure my Asian Tour card for the season,” Kochhar was quoted as saying.
Hot stretch
“But on Sunday in China, I shot eight under to finish top 5, and that week kickstarted this stretch. I’m playing on the confidence of that single round and that has really helped me because I’m playing stress-free.
“It wasn’t a goal of mine, but yesterday I will admit I did go on the Asian Tour website to check where I am and where the guys behind me are! It definitely got in my mind today, but it had to get in sometime.
“I’m not going to stress too much about it, I just have to play another good round of golf and see how we finish. It is a great opportunity for Asian Tour players to get on to the LIV Golf which is arguably one of the best tours in the world right now. Really looking forward to it.”
Kochhar has been getting the inside line from someone with real knowledge of the LIV Golf scene as Lahiri is also playing in Jakarta this week and the Crushers GC star chatted about life on LIV over a special Kochhar family celebration.
“My parents had flown in this week, and for dad’s 50th we had dinner at my apartment and Anirban was there, telling stories about LIV Golf.
“It sounded great and hopefully we can have a couple more Indians there and increase our presence on there.”
Also read: HK Open title for Campbell as Ogletree tops Int’l Series rankings
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