By Rahul Banerji
Former Asia number one and two-time European Tour winner Anirban Lahiri qualified for his third US Open and 16th major with a second place finish at the Sectional Qualifying event on Monday at the Brookside Golf & Country Club and Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio.
The 31-year-old, India’s only current PGA Tour regular, earned his berth with a total of 10-under-132 over two rounds in one of the 10 qualifying events held the same day, the PGTI said on the day.
Anirban finished one shot behind American Luke Guthrie. Guthrie carded 64 and 67 at Brookside and Scioto respectively.
“It doesn’t feel good to watch majors from home so definitely a new perspective heading to the US Open. Safe to say I’m hungry to play well in the big events,” Lahiri was quoted as having said later.
“I played really good in the qualifiers. My iron play was definitely the standout. Feel good about the game at the moment. Really like the two courses we played. Old school tree lined and you had to shape shots/”
The top 14 qualified out of a total field of 121. Shubhankar Sharma, the other Indian in the field in Columbus, missed out on qualifying by two shots as he totalled 2-under-140.
Good opening
Lahiri, currently 245th in the world rankings, made a solid start to the qualifying event with a 3-under-67 in his first round at the Scioto Country Club.
The Olympian, with two Presidents Cup appearances for the Internationals then turned up the heat with an error-free 7-under-65 at the Brookside Golf & Country Club that helped him make the grade.
Anirban, who has the most major appearances among Indian professionals, returns to the US Open after three years. It will be played this year at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in California from June 13 to 16.
Lahiri missed the cut in his previous two appearances at the US Open in 2015 and 2016. He will now want to set the record straight at the only major where he hasn’t made the cut so far.
Anirban, whose tied fifth at the 2015 PGA Championship is still the best finish achieved by an Indian at a major, has so far had a quiet PGA Tour season with just one top-10 and two other top-30s.
In another sectional qualifier played at Welton Heath in England, Shiv Kapur, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Gaganjeet Bhullar finished well down the field.
Lahiri’s record at the majors so far: Total 15
US Masters: 2 (2015 Tied 49th, 2016 Tied 42nd)
PGA Championship: 5 (2014 missed cut, 2015 Tied 5th, 2016 MC, 2017 75th, 2018 MC)
US Open: 2 (2015 MC, 2016 MC)
British Open: 6 (2012 – T31, 2014 MC, 2015 T30, 2016 T68, 2017 MC, 2018 MC)
Also read: Lahiri makes a statement of intent at Memorial with 5-under round
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