Anirban lahiri may be playing at St Andrews for the first time in his career, but he is not allowing the stage, the atmosphere and the history of the place to intimidate him.
Having played two Open Championships before this one — he even had a hole-in-one on his debut in 2012 at Muirfield — besides once each at the Augusta, US Open and the PGA, lahiri has a certain assuredness about him while getting ready for the big stage.
leading the Asian Tour Order of Merit by a handy margin and still in the Top-15 of the European Order of Merit, lahiri, who has two wins this season at the Malaysian Open and Hero Indian Open, wears a settled and calm look.
He has his entire support team with him — his family including parents and wife, Ipsa, his coach Vijay Divecha and his regular caddie Rajiv, who has flown in from Delhi for this week and the rest of the season.
Divecha has been his coach since childhood and he not only understands lahiri’s game, but also his mental make-up and approach. “Anirban is improving with each tournament, each day. He is a good learner and sees every round as a learning experience,” Divecha feels.
lahiri is getting Divecha to iron out his glitches. “This is my first time in St Andrews and I already like how the course sets itself up. It’s nice to be here and you want to be here as often as you can,” said lahiri.
Speaking of the course and strategy, lahiri said: “Here you have to hit to the left, anything on the right can be a problem. That suits my game because I tend to hit to the left more. You have to favour the left side for most of the tee shots, which is my natural shot shape. I’ve got my strategy in place.”
lahiri is happy with his draw as he plays the first two rounds with George Coetzee and Rafa Cabrera-bello.