By Rahul Banerji
A top-10 finish at last week’s Wyndham Championship has come as a much-needed boost for Anirban Lahiri ahead of the FedEx Cup Playoffs from Thursday.
Lahiri ended the event in Greensboro in tied eighth place to end a run of poor recent form and he goes into his fifth Playoff in a good frame of mind, the PGA Tour said.
The FedEx Cup Playoffs open with the St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis.
Lahiri’s best in the FedEx Cup was 51st place in 2017 and he is aiming to achieve much more.
“You want to get hot at the right time of the year,” said Lahiri, who begins the post-season 63rd on the FedEx Cup standings.
“There’s never a bad time to play well, but if there’s ever a good time to play well, it’s now.
“You can have a pretty average year, but if your good week, you’re in the Playoffs, it will give the entire season a different outlook,”
Between a rejuvenating trip to India and the finish in Greensboro, the uptick has come at a crucial time for India’s only regular face currently on the PGA Tour.
Crucial phase
The next couple of weeks will be crucial for Lahiri as he seeks to qualify for the first time to Tour Championship in Atlanta.
There is also the chance of a third appearance in the Presidents Cup for the International Team.
The top 125 in the FedEx Cup rankings enter the first of three Playoffs event this week, with the top 70 progressing to next week’s BMW Championship.
The top 30 from the BMW event go on to the Tour Championship for new FedEx Cup champion and a prize purse of $18 million.
Live telecast
The FedExCup Playoffs will be broadcast on Eurosport and GolfTV in India.
Lahiri will also need to break into the top eight on the International Team standings by the end of next week to make his third Presidents Cup team.
He is currently 15th with two qualifying weeks remaining.
Lahiri spent time in India last month to work with long-time coach Vijay Divecha, caused partly by four cuts in five events since May.
The run spoilt an otherwise strong 2022 which saw him finish an impressive runner-up at the Players Championship in March and earned him $2.18 million.
Lahiri then had one other top-10 and two top-15s in his next four starts before his game hit a slump following a break from competition during the arrival of his son, Avyaan in early May.
“Just felt like I needed to clean up on my game,” said Lahiri of his trip home.
Late run
“I hadn’t been playing my best. So I’m coming in with some rest, with some good work under my belt and looking to make a charge late in the season.
“This is the time of the year to play your best and hopefully make it all the way to the Tour Championship, that’s definitely one of the goals.
“I think it was long overdue to see Vijay. I’m very glad that I flew out to India.
“We spent a good 10 days or so and we worked on a bunch of different things.
“I knew there were four or five little nagging things that I needed to clean up, and on occasion I was confused as to which one I fix first.
“We looked at my grip, my posture, which has been my long‑standing issue … It was a very interesting, very fruitful trip.”
“I also spent some time with my friends, which is always chicken soup for my soul and that always makes me feel very upbeat.
“It always makes me come back with a little more vigour because I see a lot of the youngsters, the amateurs, the young professionals and it makes me want to play better because they look up to me,” he said.
“It’s been a very up and down sort of season and I haven’t obviously had the consistency that I was looking for.
Clear path
“Ideally if I go deep into the Playoffs, get to the Tour Championship, in an ideal situation, then I’m looking at a different schedule. As the eligibility is kind of structured, if you finish in the top 60, you almost play five or six events that you otherwise wouldn’t play.
“You are going to be in the invitationals, you’re going to be in the shorter field events like Japan and the CJ CUP, and if you get to Atlanta, you can add the Tournament of Champions and the four majors to it.
“Suddenly you go from being 85th to 29th and you’re looking at a season where nine or 10 events are completely different from being a fully exempt PGA Tour player.”
Clearly, there is much at stake for the Indian star over the coming week to start with.
Also read: Im shares lead at Wyndham C’ship; Kim, Lahiri stay in title hunt
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