Anirban Lahiri wants the no-win “albatross” off his back

By Rahul Banerji

Anirban Lahiri goes into his fourth FedEx Cup Playoffs starting with the Northern Trust from Thursday keen to end a seven-year winless streak on the PGA Tour.

The first event of the Playoffs at the Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey sees the top 125 in action with the field whittled down till the top 30 contest the Tour Championships.

Lahiri, who secured playing with a top-three finish at the Barbasol Championships before heading off to the Tokyo Olympics, opens the FedEx Cup playoffs alongside Americans Matt Kuchar and Chez Revie.

The 34-year-old is most keen to get the “winless” tag off his back having gone closest at the 2017 Memorial Tournament with a joint runners-up finish. He also has a best of 51^st in the 2017 FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Ahead of the Playoffs, Lahiri spoke at some length on his years on the PGA Tour, the need to record a maiden win and the benefits it would bring, and the opportunity to make best use of golf’s new profile after Aditi Ashok’s heroic performance in Tokyo.

Excerpts

On his PGA Tour years

What that tells me is I need to win. It’s been too long… It’s a big positive for me, the fact that I’ve kind of not played my best – I’ve not even been close to my best, I know that, but I’ve still managed to keep myself here and keep giving myself the opportunities…

I really need to win, really need to get that off my chest. I need to get that, you know, albatross off my shoulders. But I also feel like I’ve been through so many cycles, so many ups and downs and challenges physically, mentally, emotionally.

Being away from home, beginning to make this Tour and this place my home, a lot has happened. So, to that extent, I feel like I’m in a good place right now with my game and with everything else. Hopefully, this next season will be the season when I finally get my first win.

On retaining his card

“I’m thrilled. I am delighted. It’s been a challenging year, and I have had a few hurdles to jump over, and I am happy that I find myself here.

How far I go from here, the reins are back in my hands, and I can actually – if I just play well, I can make it even better. So, yeah, I am excited…

Eligibility is a very, very big criteria on the PGA Tour. There’s a lot of different kinds of status that you could have. Obviously, if you won a tournament, that’s the ideal status because that guarantees you every start, and then like I said, we are in the playoffs.

The deeper you go into the playoffs, the better you finish on the FedEx Cup, the better your eligibility for next year. But if you do make it into the top 125, you are almost guaranteed to play all the full field events, barring the Invitationals, which is Bay Hill, Genesis, and Memorial, and the CJ Cup and the Zozo Cup.

So outside of these five events, you are pretty much guaranteed entry into every other event, including The Players Championship, which is almost like a fifth Major.

I can now actually plan a schedule, know that I’m going to be eligible and I will be able to enter a lot of the events.

On Liberty National

I have only played here before in the Presidents Cup in 2017, and there is a big difference between playing this week and playing that week, primarily because that was a match play event, this is a stroke play event.

The golf course was set up differently for match play. In fact, even the course routine was different. The 1st hole and the 18th hole were changed in 2017 so that it fit the match play format better.

Now that we’re playing the stroke play format, it’s going to go back to the standard routine. I haven’t yet actually gone out and played, so I can’t tell you what the difference is in terms of the course conditions or the setup.

The other difference is I’m here now in August as opposed to October or late September. The weather is different – a lot warmer now.”

On spreading golf at home

There’s a whole conversation about public courses and public driving ranges. It’s been going on now for easily over a decade. I have been a pro myself now for, well, 14 years, starting my 15th year now, and really haven’t seen any more ranges or public courses that have come up.

I understand there are a lot of other challenges. There’s a lot of premium to real estate and what we need to use it for. We have a lot of other challenges in our country, and I am totally respectful of that, but it doesn’t take a lot to have a small driving range.

Liberty National itself, if you look at the history, was built on what used to be a garbage dump, and we have another couple of golf courses in America where we’ve had PGA Tour events, which has a similar history.

So, what’s stopping us from maybe doing that? There is a lot of scope for us to be able to take waste areas or areas that are not going to really be of prime usage and convert it into something that can be constructive and meaningful for sport in general, and golf is one of those sports.

On the ‘Aditi effect’

The fact that there were so many eyeballs on golf, thanks to Aditi, the way she played, the fact that a lot of people were talking about it and a lot of politicians and government officials were congratulating and raving about it, which I am so glad to see.

I would love to see some action being taken towards having more of us, more athletes and other people who could go ahead in the future Olympics and do something meaningful for the country.

We all know what a medal at the Olympics means to our country, but we also need to be able to develop on the grassroots level. You and I can’t do as much at the grassroots level as the authorities can.

We don’t have to make 400 acres sprawling luxury golf courses, but you could make three small ranges in areas that we have land. That was what my plea was more about because that’s where you are going to find the diamonds in the rough.

That’s where you’re going to find the talent. You’re not going to find it if there’s nowhere for someone to go and even get introduced to the sport.

I want to grow the sport, I want people to play the game, and I also want to change the perception.

This whole perception that it’s a rich man’s sport, it’s an elitist sport, it needs to go away, but it won’t go away unless someone can play 100 rupees and learn how to play golf, and that’s not going to happen unless you have a public range or public driving course and have access.

So, it’s like a cycle. It can either be a vicious cycle or it can be a constructive cycle, and it’s about changing that.

On his game

As far as my driving is concerned, I think it’s been a combination of equipment change that has made a huge difference. I went free agent last year, which basically means I don’t have an equipment contract with any one company.

That has really allowed me to play the best 14 clubs that I could play for myself.

Also, I’ve started working again, more specifically on my fitness, trying to get stronger, also working on bio-mechanics with my trainer here, Ken Macdonald, who’s really helped me get faster as well, but more than faster, get more efficient.

I might not have 120 miles of club speed, but I am still able to get the ball out there well over 300 yards when I need.

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