Anirban Lahiri
Anirban Lahiri | |
---|---|
— Golfer — | |
Personal information | |
Born |
Pune, India | 29 June 1987
Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
Nationality | India |
Residence | Bangalore, India |
Spouse | Ipsa Jamwal Lahiri (m. 2014) |
Career | |
Turned professional | 2007 |
Current tour(s) |
Asian Tour European Tour PGA Tour |
Former tour(s) | Professional Golf Tour of India |
Professional wins | 18 |
Number of wins by tour | |
European Tour | 2 |
Asian Tour | 7 |
Other | 11 |
Best results in major championships | |
Masters Tournament | T42: 2016 |
U.S. Open | CUT: 2015, 2016 |
The Open Championship | T30: 2015 |
PGA Championship | T5: 2015 |
Achievements and awards | |
Professional Golf Tour of India Order of Merit winner | 2009 |
Anirban Lahiri (Anirbāṇ Lāhiṛī; born 29 June 1987) is an Indian professional golfer who currently plays on the European Tour, Asian Tour, and PGA Tour.
Early life
Lahiri learned to play golf at the age of eight from his father, Dr. Tushar Lahiri, a physician with the armed forces who was also a recreational golfer. "I would just go out there and I would go pick up golf balls for him, and we would go chip, putt for 15 minutes because it was getting dark," Lahiri remembers. "That's how it all started."[1]
Professional career
Lahiri joined the Asian Tour in 2008. He picked up his first victory in 2011 at the Panasonic Open and his second victory in 2012 at the SAIL-SBI Open. His best finish on the Order of Merit came in 2014 with his maiden overseas win on the Asian Tour - CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters which he later followed up with another one at the Venetian Macau Open . He finished 3rd on the Order of Merit in 2013.
Lahiri broke into the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in March 2014 following a consistent season which included two victories on the Asian Tour.
Lahiri has also had a lot of success on the Professional Golf Tour of India, where he has won eleven events and the Order of Merit in 2009.
The big break came for him when qualified for his maiden major tournament – the 2012 Open Championship at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lancashire. He made it a most memorable outing, first by making the cut (68-72) and then with a hole-in-one at the par-3 9th hole in the third round en route to a T31 finish.
In February 2015, Lahiri claimed his first official win on the European Tour at the Maybank Malaysian Open, with a one stroke victory over Bernd Wiesberger. He shot a 10-under-par round of 62 during the third round to position himself going into the final day and came from four shots behind to prevail by one shot. Later the same month, Lahiri won his second event on the European Tour in his home country of India, at the Hero Indian Open. He came from seven strokes behind in the final round to force a playoff with Shiv Chowrasia, which he won with a birdie on the first extra hole. The two wins shot Lahiri into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking qualifying him for the 2015 Masters Tournament. He was labelled as a "rookie to watch" and the "new face of Indian golf." He is the third Indian national to play in the Masters,[2] after Jeev Milkha Singh and Arjun Atwal.[3] He made the cut at his first appearance and ended the tournament with scores of 71-75-74-72 on his four rounds, leaving him tied for 49th with Jason Dufner.[4]
In August 2015 at the PGA Championship which took place at Whistling Straits, Lahiri posted rounds of 70-67-70-68 for a score of −13. Despite a bogey at the 72nd hole, Lahiri finished in a tie for fifth place in the tournament and set a new record for the highest finish by an Indian professional golfer in a major.[5] The top five finish on Sunday capped a memorable week in Wisconsin for Lahiri, whose performance catapulted him to 38th in the world golf ranking.[6] He also won the PGA of America's pre-tournament long-drive contest on the Tuesday, hitting a 327-yard drive that won him a traditional gold money clip and a $25,000 charitable donation in his name. His performance set multiple records for an Indian golfer; he became the first Indian to shoot sub-par scores in all four rounds in a major, his total of 13-under was the best relative to par by an Indian at any major and his five-under 67 in the second round was also the best round by an Indian at any major.[7]
Lahiri was named to the 2015 Presidents Cup squad, the first player from India to earn the honor. Lahiri attempted to qualify for the PGA Tour through the 2015 Web.com Tour Finals after earning enough non-member points to qualify. He was the highest-ranked player in the Finals, 40th at the start of the four-event tournament. Lahiri only played in the first two events, but earned enough for a PGA Tour card. He notched his first top-10 of the 2016 PGA Tour season with a T-6 finish at the Dean & DeLuca Invitational.
Lahiri also qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics, earning a spot in the field of 60 players to compete at the Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro.
Personal
Lahiri is a resident of Bangalore, India. He is of Bengali descent, and he speaks Bengali but also speaks Punjabi in addition to English. "I'm really proud of the fact that I'm a more national Indian, so to speak—I’m equally comfortable with different languages, cultures, foods. I think that's one of the aspects of being an army kid. It is one thing that is common among almost every army brat. It’s almost like we are a culture of our own."[8] In May 2014, he married his long-time partner, Ipsa Jamwal. His personal interests include listening to music and computer gaming.[9]
Professional wins (18)
European Tour wins (2)
No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 8 Feb 2015 | Maybank Malaysian Open1 | −16 (70-72-62-68=272) | 1 stroke | Bernd Wiesberger |
2 | 22 Feb 2015 | Hero Indian Open1 | −7 (73-65-70-69=277) | Playoff | Shiv Chawrasia |
1Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
European Tour playoff record (1–0)
No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2015 | Hero Indian Open | Shiv Chawrasia | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
Asian Tour wins (7)
No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 9 Apr 2011 | Panasonic Open | −13 (65-71-68-71=275) | Playoff | Manav Jaini, Mardan Mamat |
2 | 25 Feb 2012 | SAIL-SBI Open | −14 (72-64-68-70=274) | Playoff | Prom Meesawat |
3 | 9 Mar 2013 | SAIL-SBI Open (2) | −15 (71-68-66-68=273) | Playoff | Rashid Khan |
4 | 27 Apr 2014 | CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters | −17 (70-69-64-68=271) | 1 stroke | Baek Seuk-hyun |
5 | 26 Oct 2014 | Venetian Macau Open | −17 (61-73-67-66=267) | 1 stroke | Prom Meesawat, Scott Hend |
6 | 8 Feb 2015 | Maybank Malaysian Open1 | −16 (70-72-62-68=272) | 1 stroke | Bernd Wiesberger |
7 | 22 Feb 2015 | Hero Indian Open1 | −7 (73-65-70-69=277) | Playoff | Shiv Chowrasia |
1Co-sanctioned with the European Tour
Professional Golf Tour of India wins (11)
No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 27 Sep 2009 | Haryana Open | −10 (69-69-71-69=278) | 1 stroke | Chinnaswamy Muniyappa |
2 | 8 Nov 2009 | BILT Open | −20 (66-65-66-71= 268) | 7 strokes | Naman Dawar |
3 | 14 May 2010 | PGTI Players Championship | −24 (65-65-67-67=264) | 6 strokes | Shamim Khan |
4 | 2 July 2010 | Aircel PGTI Players Championship | −21 (65-68-67-67=267) | 6 strokes | Himmat Rai |
5 | 30 Oct 2010 | BILT Open | −11 (68-68-71-70=277) | 4 strokes | Amardip Singh Malik |
6 | 11 Feb 2011 | Aircel PGTI Players Championship (Tollygunge) | −18 (68-65-65-64=270) | 8 strokes | Rashid Khan, Jyoti Randhawa |
7 | 2 Apr 2011 | Aircel PGTI Players Championship (Panchkula) | −14 (72-65-70-67=274) | 2 strokes | Mukesh Kumar |
8 | 28 Jun 2013 | PGTI Players Championship | −10 (71-67-68-72=278) | Playoff | Shamim Khan |
9 | 5 Jul 2013 | PGTI Eagleburg Open | −20 (73-62-64-69=268) | 5 strokes | Chikkarangappa S |
10 | 29 Dec 2013 | McLeod Russel Tour Championship | −17 (66-71-65-69=271) | 4 strokes | Rahil Gangjee |
11 | 1 Feb 2014 | PGTI Ahmedabad Masters | −14 (64-70-71-69=274) | 6 strokes | Rahil Gangjee |
Results in major championships
Tournament | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | DNP | DNP | DNP | T49 | T42 |
U.S. Open | DNP | DNP | DNP | CUT | CUT |
The Open Championship | T31 | DNP | CUT | T30 | T68 |
PGA Championship | DNP | DNP | CUT | T5 | CUT |
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10
Summary
Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
US Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Totals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 6 |
- Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (2015 Open – 2016 Masters)
- Longest streak of top 10-s – 1
Team appearances
Amateur
- Asian Junior Golf Team Championship: 2005 (Team Gold Medal)[11]
- World Junior Golf Team Championship: 2005[12]
- Eisenhower Trophy: 2006[13]
- Doha Asian Games: 2006[14]
- Nomura Cup - Asia-Pacific Amateur Team Championship: 2007[15]
Professional
- World Cup (representing India): 2013
- EurAsia Cup (representing Asia): 2014, 2016
- Presidents Cup (representing the International team): 2015
See also
- 2014 European Tour Qualifying School graduates
- 2015 Web.com Tour Finals graduates
- List of golfers with most Asian Tour wins
References
- ↑ "Next Step for Anirban Lahiri, India's Top Golfer: U.S. Debut". The New York Times. 4 March 2015.
- ↑ "Augusta Masters 2015: Five Rookies to Watch". NDTV Sports. 6 April 2015.
- ↑ "What does Lahiri do on an average day? Makes a cut at Masters!". The Tribune. 12 April 2015.
- ↑ "The Masters Leaderboard". Golfweek. 12 April 2015.
- ↑ Ballengee, Ryan (16 August 2015). "Anirban Lahiri notches best major finish by an Indian player". Yahoo Sports.
- ↑ "Anirban Lahiri". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
- ↑ "Anirban Lahiri back in World's Top-40, certain for President's Cup". ZNews. 17 August 2015.
- ↑ "Indian Golfer Anirban Lahiri's Life Lessons". The Wall Street Journal. 15 January 2015.
- ↑ "Anirban Lahiri profile". Asian Tour.
- ↑ "Anirban Lahiri profile". Professional Golf Tour of India.
- ↑ Asian Junior Golf Team Championship Archived February 27, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Briefs – India finish 12th
- ↑ Eisenhower Trophy (World Amateur Team Championship) Archived February 27, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Always aiming higher
- ↑ Nomura Cup (Asia Pacific Amateur Team Golf Championship) Archived February 27, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
External links
- Official website
- Anirban Lahiri at the Asian Tour official site
- Anirban Lahiri at the European Tour official site
- Anirban Lahiri at the PGA Tour official site
- Anirban Lahiri at the Official World Golf Ranking official site
- Profile on the Professional Golf Tour of India's official site