Anirban Lahiri Upbeat for Maiden PGA Championship

Anirban Lahiri of India aims to produce a worthy performance in his PGA Championship debut after recovering from illness which kept him away from golf for a few weeks. Lahiri, the current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader, recently recovered from chicken pox and is prepared to take on the world's best players in the year's fourth and final Major tournament which will be played at the Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, USA. (Tiger Woods practices without problems on eve of PGA)

To make up for his lack of training, Lahiri, ranked 87th in the world, made an early trip to the United States to prepare and familiarise himself with the Jack Nicklaus design course.

"I played a practice round on Saturday and I'm super excited and really looking forward to doing well. I have just recovered and I'm slowly getting back to practice. Hopefully, I can put in a memorable performance at Valhalla," said Lahiri.

"I'm slowly getting into tournament mode. I was feeling quite jet lagged but I'm feeling better after a good night's rest. The course is a Jack Nicklaus course so it is like the courses we are used to playing in Asia but obviously the grasses are totally difficult so it is something which I will need to adjust to," he explained.

The 27-year-old is enjoying a tremendous season so far after winning his fifth Asian Tour title at the Indonesian Masters in April. He was also part of Team Asia who tied with Team Europe in the inaugural EurAsia Cup in Malaysia in March.

Without missing a single cut in six appearances on the Asian Tour in 2014, Lahiri broke inside the top-100 on the Official World Golf Ranking. He hopes to improve on his standings with a standout performance this week. Lahiri will also be aiming for redemption at the PGA Championship having missedthe halfway cut at The Open Championship last month.

"It was a great experience. I played quite decent on the back nine but made some mistakes and could have shot a better round. Playing at The Open will go into the experience kitty and it'll help me grind it out in the future," said Lahiri.

Lahiri will be joined by reigning Asian Tour number one Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand, Thongchai Jaidee, a three-time Order of Merit winner as well as honorary members, K.J. Choi and Y.E. Yang of Korea, South Africa's Ernie Els and 2010 Order of Merit winner Noh Seung-yul of Korea at the PGA Championship.

 

(With inputs from the Asian Tour)