Lahiri tees up FedEx playoffs bid at Northern Trust golf

By Rahul Banerji

Anirban Lahiri, India’s leading light on the professional golf circuit, launches his 2018 FedEx Cup campaign at the Northern Trust event on Thursday at Paramus in New Jersey hoping to better his 2017 performance.

The Pune-born 31-year-old last year became the first Indian golfer to make it to the post-season playoffs. Lahiri went as far as the third round at the BMW Championship after just making the cut at the Dell Technologies Championship, and will want better returns this time.

For those of us following his career especially since his 2015 PGA Tour debut, it has been as much of a roller-coaster ride as it has been for the Palm Beach Gardens-based Lahiri.

Strong push

After a mid-season slump, Lahiri has at least twice been close to a top-five finish – tied 9th at the Travellers Championship and T6 at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. In all, he has had four top-10 finishes and made 16 cuts in 22 starts this season.

Having missed last week’s Wyndham Championship, the Hero MotoCorp-backed Lahiri, who has racked up $1.4 million in earnings this year, is 91^st in the 125-strong field at the Northern Trust..

All 125 qualifiers will have their FedEx Cup points quadrupled at the start of the first playoff.  From New Jersey, the top 100 advance to the Dell Technologies Championship in Boston. From there, the first 70 in the rankings will contest the BMW Championship at the Aronimink Golf Club in Pennsylvania.

For the finale, the Tour Championship in Atlanta from September 20 to 23, only the top 30 qualify. In theory, any of the 30 could go on to win the wrap-up event, but it will be the top five at the final stage who will have the best chance to walk away with the big prize as there are enough points on offer to make that happen.

Hard worf

Last year, Lahiri fell out of contention at the Pennsylvania event. Given his late-season surge, he will be keen to push on through to Atlanta, having worked hard on his game through the middle part of the year, including flying coach Vijay Divecha over to the US.

Dustin Johnson heads the field with defending champion Justin Thomas in second place. Tiger Woods is in the fray too, the only two-time winner of the FedEx Cup making the grade in 20^th place from just 14 starts.

Also read: Tiger Woods Just Misses Out At PGA Championship But Has Fans Roaring