Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Anirban Lahiri of India finished tied 11^th at the Bermuda Championship on Sunday, five shots behind winner Brian Gay.

A final round 3-under 68, which included four birdies and a lone bogey at Port Royal Golf Course, ensured Kiradech his best result in a year with his 10-under 274 total while Lahiri maintained his resurgence in form with a closing 67 which moved him up to 31^st position in the latest FedExCup rankings.

The 48-year-old Gay claimed his fifth PGA TOUR victory with a playoff win over Wyndham Clark as he ended a winless streak since 2013. Gay and Clark ended the week on 15-under 269.

SOUTHAMPTON, BERMUDA – NOVEMBER 01: Anirban Lahiri of India plays his shot from the tenth tee during the final round of the Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course on November 01, 2020 in Southampton, Bermuda. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Lahiri closed out his week with six birdies against two bogeys on a week where he ranked tied first for most birdies made during the tournament. It also maintained his solid start to the new 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season where he registered two top-40s and a tied sixth finish in three previous starts.

“Happy with the consistency this week. I made too many small errors on and around the greens that added up to hurt me enough. Disappointed not to finish in the top-10,” said the Indian star, who is featuring in his sixth straight PGA TOUR Season.

Starting the final round four off the pace, Lahiri started strongly with birdies on Hole Nos. 2, 4 and 7 but dropped a bogey on nine. He made par over the next five holes before closing with three birdies in his last four holes which included a second bogey of the round on Hole No. 16.

“I feel like the game is getting more rounded with every passing week. The biggest challenge and disappointment is not being able to play events and as of now, I’m not in to any of the remaining events on the Schedule (for this year). I may try to Monday qualify for Sea Island (the RSM Classic in three weeks’ time).”

Kiradech, who played alongside Lahiri in the final round,  started the final day three shots back but could not get his game firing on all cylinders to mount a challenge for a maiden PGA TOUR victory. He made birdies on the fourth and seventh holes but a bogey on nine pulled the brakes on his game. The Thai converted a two-feet birdie on 10 and ended his day with a 20-foot birdie conversion on the last.

“The putter was not hot enough to get the job done,” said Kiradech, whose best finish prior to this week was T8 at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in Korea last October.

Over at the Cyprus Open on the European Tour, India’s Shubhankar Sharma claimed his best result yet in 2020 with a tied-14th place finish at the Aphrodite Hills Resort. The 2018 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion closed with a second straight two-under-par 69 to finish 13-under-par 271, seven shots back from making the play-off.

Ends.

Southampton, Bermuda, October 28: India’s Anirban Lahiri walks with a slight spring in his steps these days. Gone are the times when he would stare at the ground with shoulders slumped after concluding another round on the PGA TOUR.

Confidence is a vital ingredient in any athlete’s daily grind and the 33-year-old Lahiri is certainly enjoying a new sense of self-belief after enjoying a decent run with a first top-10 in nearly two years and a couple of top-40s in his first three starts to the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season.

Following a three-week break, Lahiri, who at his heights represented the International Team in the Presidents Cup in 2015 and 2017, tees it up at the Bermuda Championship this week where he is eager to make further improvements after enduring a difficult past two years which has seen him miss more cuts that he’d like to.

“I’m really excited … it’s been three good weeks. I got a lot of work done, took some time off, kind of reflected on the start and also looked at areas that I need to work on and get better at. I’m playing much better. For me, it’s all about staying in the process and keep moving in that direction,” said Lahiri.

The tenacious Indian, who is a former Asian Tour No. 1, finished T36 in the season-opening Safeway Open last month, T6 at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship and T37 at the Sanderson Farms Championship to currently lie in 51^st position on the FedExCup points list. In those tournaments, he shot two average rounds, a 77 at Safeway and a 74 at Sanderson Farms, which he knows hurt his chances of higher finishes.

“It’s all about building that momentum going forward, build on that confidence and belief and snowball it into getting into contention more often, maybe this week, and try to work for a ‘W’. I have to think that way. That’s my attitude at the moment and that’s what I’m looking forward to. The game has been one bad round or mediocre round every event, and there’s been a lot of good golf and a lot of birdies and a lot of other positives as well,” said Lahiri.

While he continues to work regularly with long-time coach Vijay Divecha, Lahiri has spent time recently with short-game coach James Sieckmann to sharpen his tools as he seeks a career breakthrough on the PGA TOUR in what is his sixth season in the U.S.

Obviously spending extended time with my coach back in India (during the shutdown) made a huge difference and that’s beginning to show. I trust my game a lot more, hitting my game a lot better, I’m hitting my irons a lot better, which has basically always been my strength and not so much so in the last couple years. So getting back to basics,” said Lahiri, who holds 11 top-10s, including one runner-up finish, in 122 career starts on the the PGA TOUR.

Lahiri has an old score to settle at the Bermuda Championship which he shot rounds of 66 and 73 in the inaugural tournament last year but had to withdraw before the start of the third round due to injury. “I played well the few holes that I did play last year. Yeah, hoping to extend that to 72 and keep playing well. It’s unique. Obviously the biggest challenge here is the wind and I consider myself to be a pretty good wind player. I’ve had a lot of good results at windy venues and the grasses are tropical, so it’s a lot like what I’m used to playing, primarily Bermuda,” he said.

“It was unfortunate that I got hurt, but up until that point of time I felt really comfortable on the golf course. Hopefully I’ll feel the same way when I get started and I’m looking forward to it.”

He is also looking forward to seeing fans back on the golf course as the Bermuda Championship will become the first event on TOUR to allow fans back on site. “I think it’s a great sign. I think it’s a step forward. Bermuda as a country has done really well in managing and handling the virus. It will be great for us to have the galleries again and have that atmosphere that obviously they bring, the fans bring.”

As he isn’t in the field for next week’s Vivint Houston Open, Lahiir hopes to gain a backdoor entry by finishing in the top-10 in Bermuda, similar to what he did with his top-10 in Corales Puntacana which got him into the Sanderson Farms Championship. “There’s a lot to play for. I’m in a position where I’m not getting into a lot of events. This is going to be my fourth event of the year and may even be the last just looking at how many entries have come in for the remainder of the events. So I have to make the most of it,” said Lahiri.

“I have to try and get as many points up so when the season restarts, whenever I get my next opportunity, I’m not trying to run with a gun to my head. It’s very important for me to get off to that start, so it’s important for me to be focused at every event.

“I’m close, I’m definitely close. How close, I don’t know. Might be this week, might be two weeks from now. I think if I keep playing to my ability, to my potential, that I can push it further and further and higher and that’s how I want to look at it.”

Ends.

By V.Krishnaswamy, @Swinging_Swamy

Anirban Lahiri would not have been happy leaving for home in Palm Beach at the end of the Sanderson Farms after playing his final round in three-under 69 and finishing a modest T-37 on Sunday in Jackson, Mississippi, US.

Lahiri, who earned his ticket to Sanderson with a Top-10 in Corales Dominican Republic, needed a Top-10 finish to get into the next event, the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. He seemed to have a good chance at the halfway stage, before a bruising third round of five-over 77 ruined the chances.

Yet, Lahiri gave it his all with a 3-undet 69 that began with four birdies in first 10 holes, but again the putts did not fall after that and he also closed with a bogey on 18^th  for four birdies and one bogey in the final round. It saw him finish T-37 after T-36 at Safeway. and T-6 at Corales.

Sergio Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion, won his first PGA Tour title since the Augusta success, as he closed with a birdie on 18th for 5-under 67 and a total of 19-under to beat the 2015 Sanderson winner, Peter Malnati (63) by one shot. J.T. Poston (70) was third at 16 under.

On the finish this week, a forward-looking Lahiri described it as, “Some progress but a lot of work still to do.”

Talking about the next few weeks, Lahiri said,” The plan is to get back and work hard on the body and mind for next three weeks and start again at Bermuda. I will then probably need to get into Top-10 to get to the Houston Open the following week.” The re-scheduled Masters for 2020 will follow the Houston Open.

On his thoughts for the day, Lahiri said, “The mindset was to reset today. I had a small error in my putting setup yesterday (third round) that I fixed latter on Saturday evening. So the effort was to go really low but had too many putts today that did everything but go in. Sometimes they don’t drop and this was one of those weeks. I have a nice window ahead of me to reflect and clean up on the areas that need work and come back out all guns blazing.”

Lahiri after being 8-under for 36 holes fell to 3-under on third day. In the final round Lahiri found about a third of the fairways and hit just over 50 per cent of the greens in regulation with 10 out of 18. But what him hurt was that he once again missed a few putts in the nine to 15 feet range especially over three of the last four holes.

Lahiri birdied the Par-5 third with a 101-yard approach to nine feet and added a second one on the par-5 fifth. It raised visions of a good finish as he birdied eighth and turned in 3-under. A 28-foot conversion for a fourth birdie on Par-3 10^th made It even better, but then the birdies ran out. He also closed with a bogey on 18^th, where he two-putted from just over eight feet after chipping well from the rough.

Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan finished as the leading Asian. Pan shot a final round 68 to finish T12, his best finish since a T11 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in November, 2019. His four-day total of 13-under was also his lowest since the Mayakoba event. Pan missed out on a top-10 after ending his day with a bogey on 18. Sungjae Im (66) finished T-28 and Si Woo Kim (67) was T-37.

A week after falling out of the top 50 in the world for the first time since 2011, Garcia won for the 11th time on the PGA TOUR and the 31st time worldwide, which will bring him back into Top-50.

Garcia has now won PGA TOUR wins in three different decades (2000s, 2010s, 2020s) and he also won in Europe in 1999.

It was a great week for Garcia, who came into this event off missed cuts  at Safeway Open and the U.S. Open. Making his debut at Sanderson Farms, Garcia, 40,  joined leader in the clubhouse Peter Malnati at 18-under with an eagle at the par-5 14^th hole after a 5-wood from 260 yards to 3 feet, 5 inches before securing victory with birdie at the final hole.

The 11^th PGA Tour win fetches Garcia 500 FedExCup points and invitations to the Sentry Tournament of Champions, 2021 Masters Tournament, THE PLAYERS Championship and PGA Championship.

Ends.

By V.Krishnaswamy, @Swinging_Swamy

Anirban Lahiri started the third day well as he holed an eight-footer for birdie on the second hole suggesting a good moving day at the Sanderson Farms Championship, but as things turned out, it was to be his only birdie of the day following a forgettable day on the greens, where time and again he missed inside 6-7 feet and dropped a lot of shots. He finished with 77, equalling his worst round in 2020 at the American Express in January. He tumbled from overnight T-7 to T-52 in Jackson, Mississippi.

With the leader board crowded as it is, Lahiri who was five behind the then-leader Keegan Bradley after the second round, is now 11 behind the new leader Cameron Davis (63), Sergio Garcia and JT Poston (69), who are all 14-under.

As Lahiri fell from being the top Asian, Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan followed his second round 69 with a third round 68 and at 9-under, he rose to T-14, while Kyoung Hoon Lee (70) at 5-under was T-39. Sungjae Im (72) was T-52.

Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Byeonghun An,  Xinjun Zhang, Satoshi Kodaira, Sung Kang and KJ Choi had missed the cut.

For Lahiri, it was a massive reversal of form and fortunes as in terms of statistics on shots gained in putting Lahiri, who had gained 1.89 strokes on the first day, lost 4.41 on the third day.

Yet, he was marginally better in terms of finding the fairways – he found just three on the second day and it was six in the third round and he reached 10 of the 18 greens in regulation.

In his third round at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Anirban Lahiri hit 6 of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens in regulation, finishing at 3 under for the tournament. Lahiri finished his day tied for 52nd at 3 under; J.T. Poston, Cameron Davis, and Sergio Garcia are tied for 1st at 14 under;

Among the areas that Lahiri would be concerned about is the Par-5 scoring. He was 2-under for the Par-5s on the first day and then even par for those long holes on second. On the third, he dropped a shot each on two of them on front nine and parred the other two. On the 612-yard Par-5 fifth he reached the green in three and then three-putted from 12 feet for a bogey.

His putting on the pure and fast greens, which was working so well on Thursday had just disappeared. He dropped a 4-footer for par on Par-5 fifth, a six-footer for par on Par-4 eighth and in between missed two other putts of 11 to 13 feet on front nine. On the back nine, he again missed putts inside six feet on 11^th, 13^th and 15^th. His longest putt during the day was eight feet five inches on the second and it fetched him his sole birdie, as he carded a disappointing 77. Lahiri needs a Top-10 finish to get into next week’s Shriners Children’s Hospital Open in Las Vegas.

Lahiri’s third-round playing partner Brandt Snedeker put together a fine back nine with four birdies in his 67 and with Kristoffer Ventura, he was tied for fourth at 13 under. Overnight leader, Keegan Bradley, Denny McCarthy and Aaron Wise are tied for 6th at 12 under.

Garcia, who revealed that he has often been putting with his eyes closed to get a better feel, seems to be doing great as he shot a bogey free 6-under 66 to share the 54-hole lead in his debut at the Country Club of Jackson.

As many as 10 players are separated by four shots, setting up for a tight battle on Sunday.

Davis opened with five straight birdies, and the Australian’s biggest highlight was a second shot to 10 feet for eagle on the par-5 14th hole that carried him to a 9-under 63. He post 14-under 202, and later Garcia and Poston joined him. Poston did reach 15-under but dropped a shot on 16^th to fall to 14-under as he saved a par on 18^th from the bunker.

Ends.

By V.Krishnaswamy, @Swinging_Swamy

Anirban Lahiri hung in tight and grinded it out for a card of 2-under 70 in windy conditions on a day when his driver was very errant in the second round of the Sanderson Farms  Championship.

Lahiri stayed at tied-seventh but slipped to five shots behind the leader. Lahiri was eight-under-136 through 36 holes as Keegan Bradley (65) shot a brilliant 65 to get to 13-under-par and led the field by two in Jackson, Mississippi.

Lahiri’s accuracy took a major hit in swirling conditions as he found only three fairways and two-thirds of the greens, way below 50 per cent fairways and 83 per cent of the greens in regulation on the first day. His putting, too, left him disappointed.

Also, a double bogey on the sixth, his 15tth hole of the second day, ended a fine 32-hole bogey-free streak. Another disappointing bit was that Lahiri was unable to birdie any of the four Par-5s as against two on the first day. He now has 10 birdies against one double bogey in 36 holes.

Lahiri also came agonisingly close to a hole-in-one on Par-3 13^th, his fourth hole of the day when his tee shot landed five inches from the cup. While that was a great feeling, Lahiri rued missing as many as three birdie putts from inside 10 feet besides a less than six footer for a bogey on sixth.

“I had some trouble with the driver and did not find many fairways. I hit very few fairways (just three). The wind was swirling most of the time and I was left guessing. But I did have a decent start with three birdies in the first six holes after starting from the tenth,” said Lahiri, who also missed a fair number of putts from distances he had made look easy on the first day. He, however, did have a 25-foot conversion for birdie on Par-4 12^th, his third hole of the day, which was followed by the near ace.

“I lost concentration around the turn,” he added. “I missed the fairway and went into a greenside bunker.” From there he went to the fringe and had less than six feet for a bogey but missed it for a double.

He had three birdies on the front nine on 12, 13 and 15 and closed the day with one more on ninth.

Lahiri, who has had his putting coach on site this week, went for a practice session to hit some balls on the driving range and putting green. “I managed to get a good session later on and am ready for the weekend,” said Lahiri.

Lahiri, who got into the field this week after a Top-10 finish last week at Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic, needs a similar Top-10 for a place in next week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children open in Vegas. “My eligibility is such this year. But I am looking forward to a good weekend and rest will take care of itself.”

Lahiri, who has not won since 2015 in his home event, the Hero Indian Open on Asian and European Tours, was T-36 at Safeway Open and then T-6 at Corales, which was his first Top-10 in almost two years.

Bradley rode a hot putter even as his iron play, too, helped him get close to the pins on way to a 7-under 65. Playing at the Country Club of Jackson for the first time, Bradley made three straight birdies on the back nine to take the lead and closed with another short birdie putt to take a two-shot lead over J.T. Poston ( 67) and Charley Hoffman (69).

Monday qualifier M.J. Daffue of South Africa, who made an event for the third time since July and through qualifiers, added 69 to his first round 65 and was fourth at 10-under.

While Lahiri was the best among Asian stars, Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan returned a 69 with five birdies against two bogeys for RT-24. Korea’s Si Woo Kim (69), Sungjae Im (70) and K.H. Lee (73) all made the halfway cut which fell at 141, but Kiradech Aphibarnrat (77-68), Byeong Hun An (73-75), Xinjun Zhang (73-75), Satoshi Kodaira (74-77) and Sung Kang (74-79) and KJ Choi (76-73) missed the cut.

Ends.