Anirban lahiri has three Asian Tour titles to his name. And, all of them have come at one place — the Delhi Golf Club (DGC). “I have managed to find a way to win here,” he tells you without sounding overconfident, or even arrogant, and adds, “I would try to do it again.”
The current week brings him another chance to assert his authority over this course once again as he prepares to defend his Sail-SBI Open title — the season opening event of Asian Tour beginning on Wednesday at the DGC — and complete his hat-trick of titles.
Though it is not exactly a season opener for lahiri as he has already played in Mumbai, he wants to do well at the start of the season so that he doesn’t have to go to the Qualifying School to earn European card. “It’s nice to be back here. This is my sixth Sail-SBI Open this year. I would like to find myself in contention on Saturday,” he said.
“It’s important to play well and have a good start (to the season) so that I have the liberty to skip an event or two, or else I will have to go back to the European tour Q-school. I have to do well in the tournaments before that or else Q-school will be the only option left for me.
“I had a good couple of seasons in the last two years because I had a good start to the season. It is an important factor for success. This is the only year that I have played a lot of golf before SAIl Open, so in a way I am match fit,” said lahiri.
He had a good last year with eight top-10 finishes in 21 starts on the Asian Tour. He also finished runner-up on three occasions and missed the title by one shot twice, including the Indian Open at the DGC. He finished the year at No. 3 on Asian Tour order of merit and got a place in the inaugural EurAsia Cup event to be held in Malaysia next month where a team each from Asia and Europe will vie for the top honours.
This year lahiri has already tasted success at the louis Philippe Cup in Mumbai where he led Puravankara Bangalore to the final. But it’s just a start of the new season and lahiri has big goals for the year. Among them one is to break into the world top 50.
“I’m just looking forward to a good start to the season. My long term goal would be to break into the top 50-60 in the world. Probably to get onto the European Tour, win at least one title in the Asian tour. lots to do,” lahiri, who climbed to his career-best 101 last month, said.
Talking about the EurAsia Cup, the 26-year-old golfer said: “It is one of the big events, this is one of the targets. It is a high profile event and it is a privilege to represent Asia and India. I really want to do well there.”
“The good thing is once I come back from British Open qualifying next week, I will have a good two and a half weeks off before the EurAsia Cup in Malaysia. So I want to put in some work on my swing and game.”