Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri’s week stored getting higher even earlier than he reached the tee within the opening spherical of PGA Championship as he acquired to follow alongside the legendary Tiger Woods. Lahiri, who’s making a Major look after practically three years, made a late determination to show up at Southern Hills, whereas ready for the arrival of his second child. He then arrived at Southern Hills on Tuesday and when he acquired to the course for a follow spherical on Wednesday, he discovered Woods with out anybody else.
The 15-time Major champion requested the Indian if they might play collectively. Lahiri may hardly imagine this stroke of luck. Lahiri mentioned, “I headed to the primary tee and there have been just a few gamers there, and me and Tiger had been standing round. There was some confusion as to who was going and it was then simply me and Tiger, and he requested me (to play collectively) and why would I ever say no to that invitation! It was simply random, it was serendipity.” Woods performed 9 holes earlier than he left after which Lahiri acquired to play 9 holes with Bryson DeChambeau, who later withdrew as his hand remains to be not okay after a surgical procedure.
“I had a really fun day, an interesting day. It was quite the surprise,” said Lahiri. “Got in late last night and honestly, I’ve not gotten much sleep the last few days. I was just going about my work and I know he normally practices in the morning because every time Tiger is at a major, the crowds let you know where he’s at,” mentioned Lahiri.
Lahiri has performed as soon as beforehand with Woods over three holes when the American celebrity jetted into New Delhi in 2014 for a flying go to. But since competing on the PGA Tour in 2016, the Indian has had the possibility to know the 82-time PGA Tour winner over time.
“Every time I see him, we are saying howdy and we chat. I really have not performed a lot golf with him, so to really exit and play 9 holes, sort of a chill day was plenty of enjoyable. He was tremendous relaxed and really pleasant, and we talked quite a bit about our frequent pursuits together with Arjun (Atwal), Jeev (Milkha Singh), and Hero (MotoCorp).
“He obviously talked about the changes to Southern Hills since he was last here and it was good to get insights on how he sees it on some of the holes,” mentioned Lahiri. Lahiri had come near pulling out of the occasion as his spouse, Ipsa, was anticipating their second child. He had made up his thoughts to drag out if the newborn didn’t come until Tuesday.
But his son Avyaan acquired him out of the dilemma by arriving forward of time to affix the household. Lahiri has an elder daughter, too.
Once all was advantageous, it was time to make some last-minute preparations. Then got here the completely surprising likelihood to play with Woods, who had gained at Southern Hills in 2007 for one in every of his 4 PGA Championship wins. Woods left after 9 holes and Lahiri was then joined by long-hitting DeChambeau on the again 9.
Later Chambeau withdrew from the match as he’s nonetheless recovering from a hand damage. “He (DeChambeau) was swinging at 60% and still flying it 320 yards, it’s just incredible what he’s managed to do with speed and distance. It was really shocking,” mentioned Lahiri.
“I used to be joking with my caddie that we had a day the place we sort of did all of it. We present up after which play with Tiger and the again 9 with Bryson. All the time, I used to be making an attempt to absorb what the golf course is all about.” Lahiri, who completed tied fifth within the 2015 PGA Championship, is having fun with a superb run of kind following his runner-up end at THE PLAYERS Championship, which is the PGA Tour’s flagship match.
Since then, he has completed T13, T66, T15 and T6 and risen to forty seventh place on the FedExCup factors listing and twelfth on the International Team rankings to play within the Presidents Cup later this yr. He mentioned Southern Hills reminded him of a few of the golf programs in Thailand, however is aware of the challenges this week will probably be on the placing surfaces.
“This golf course is all in regards to the inexperienced complexes. You must navigate your self and place your self. If you’ve gotten energy and size, nice.
“If you don’t, you can still compete and contend and that’s why I think it’s such a good major venue as everyone has a chance to win this. It doesn’t heavily favor one style of play,” he mentioned. “It is quite a bit like one thing you would possibly play in Thailand by way of surfaces as it is common Bermuda grass. Obviously the greens are bent grass and really extreme. Quite a lot of will probably be about controlling spin and controlling flight.
“The course is extremely firm, and I was trying to figure out how far it’s going after it hits the ground. Even when laying up on the par 5s, you can have an 8 iron rolling 60 yards if it lands at the wrong place. “I’m really glad I had the whole day to look at the golf course and get my prep work in.” Lahiri performs with KH Lee, who final week defended his title at AT&T Byron Nelson, and Tim Feenstra at 12.36 pm native time.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
