Lahiri: You can't penalise the Asian Tour for trying to stay alive
The LIV Golf Series is the most contentious and polarising topic in men’s golf, and India’s Anirban Lahiri finds himself right in the middle of the Great Divide. 
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As a dedicated member of the PGA Tour since 2015, Lahiri greatly appreciates the history and legacy of the Tour. He also spent the last four years on the Players Advisory Council (PAC), a role that has given him a ringside view of how the Tour has worked for the betterment of the product and its players.
Then there is the other side.
The 34-year-old from Bengaluru also has a soft corner for LIV Golf and Golf Saudi. Having spent his early years in Asia, Lahiri is acutely aware that without their timely financial support, the Asian Tour would have struggled to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a very complex situation, which is evolving and there are so many sides to the story,” said Lahiri, who is staying with the PGA Tour.
“I have been talking to Shubhankar (Sharma) about what’s going on in Europe, and I’ve been talking to guys like Chikka on what's going on in Asia. And then I have some very close friends like Branden (Grace), who has joined LIV.
“To be honest, I am happy for the Asian Tour. I think that this influx of money is going to be critical to professional golf in Asia in the long term. It gives them a great opportunity to showcase themselves and grow the brand.
“The perception in this part of the world is that they have been bought over. They’re just doing the bidding of Saudi and it's a very negative perception. It saddens me because Asia has been home for me for a long, long time. And that is not the truth.”
Lahiri, who is ranked 86th in the world and 59th in the FedEx Cup, said that while he is committed to the PGA Tour, he understands the decisions made by players who jumped ship to LIV Golf.
“I don't know how all this is going to shake out. For me personally, I have just been focusing on what's going on in my life and with my family. I'm just getting back into the flow of things. My focus right now is to try and play well so that I get into the Open Championship, and kind of plan out the rest of my year,” added Lahiri, who became a father to Avyaan the week of the PGA Championship.
“So, am I playing next week (at LIV event in Portland)? No. Am I likely to play soon? No.
“Some of my friends have gone over. I had a chat with Branden, and he’s like, look, I made my decision. I made my peace. This is what me and my family want. I played the first event and enjoyed it. Charl (Schwartzel), who is a member at my club, said it's a lot of money and how could he say no to it? Then you have guys like Dustin (Johnson) and Bryson (DeChambeau) who are getting astronomical deals. They've all got their own reasons for it. All I know is that they are still going to be my friends.
“What will I do if LIV approach me? I don't know. Honestly, right now, it's important that I focus on my golf. But it’s hard not to look at an offer. Every player who's been asked that question, says so. When that moment comes, you’ve got to start weighing as an individual. What do I want to do with my life? What are my goals? What are my ambitions?”
Lahiri said the only thing that seems certain right now is that players are benefitting from the imbroglio. The PGA Tour, after announcing enhanced prize money for most of their tournaments, also bumped up the bonus pools for Players Incentive Program (PIP) and FedEx Cup. It is also starting eight 20-million-dollar events for the top-50 players on the FedEc Cup standings during the Fall Serie events next year.
The LIV tournaments, where 48 players are playing three-day events, are for $25 million purses.
“Yes. Because of what is happening, it is just accelerating the growth, including on the PGA Tour itself,” said Lahiri, who won $2.18 million for finishing second in the $20 million Players Championship earlier this year.
“A lot of viewers and media are saying it’s bad for golf. I am not saying it’s bad. I am a constituent in the golf industry. I'm on this side of the ropes and I can’t speak for people on the other side. But I know, players are happy, because our purses are going up. The guys who have gone across to LIV, they're happy with whatever deals that they've done.
“I think only the Tours are unhappy because organisations have been shaken. But for the players, it’s a win-win situation.”
Lahiri is hoping that the outlook towards Asian Tour changes soon in the US.
“I’ve spoken to a few players personally. As part of the PAC, I have given them perspective inputs over the years that they didn’t have, because they haven’t been in my shoes and experienced the things I have,” said Lahiri.
“I was recently telling Charley Hoffman, who is on the Tour policy board, that they need to understand that some of these organisations are acting out of self-preservation. You can’t penalise them for trying to stay alive. You can’t be angry at Asian Tour, for instance, for doing what they've done. What are their options? If I am the Asian Tour and somebody comes and gives me Option A, which is growth over the next 10 years, and there is an Option B. I know they approached the PGA Tour and there was a counteroffer. But it definitely wasn’t nearly as much as Option A.
“So, after 18 months of disruption because of COVID, during which so many of my friends were technically without a job… I’m happy that they can now make a living. I'm happy for my friends who can continue to dream of playing professionally.
“At the same time, if I have my PGA Tour shoes on, I’d feel upset that the Saudis have an entity that could help get their foot in the door. They can’t really control the direction of this fire. It’s like a fire for the PGA Tour, right? If you have a forest fire and you burn a ring around the area, you control it. But in their current ring, the Asian Tour is like the gap from where that fire can continue to spread.
“So, you know, everyone is just trying to preserve their business. Everybody has their own perspective, there is no right or wrong. I’m happy for the Asian Tour. I will never ever say that what they did was wrong, because I know exactly how hard it was for them.”
On the current state of his game:
I played well at Wells Fargo. That was four or five tournaments post Players and I was still in good rhythm. After that, I’ve only played thrice in around two months, which is very unusual.
I’m someone who likes to play tournaments in a row. I like building on weeks, one week upon the next. That showed up, especially at the PGA Championship. I didn’t play bad, but it was just very unclean, very unlike how I play golf. I put it down more to not playing as much tournament golf.
But it’s been a different time in my life with the coming of Avyaan (son) and, obviously we are in the US. I have my in-laws here, but as they say, it takes a village to raise a child. It’s been all hands on deck and it was important for me to be home and do a lot of those things.
When Tisya, my daughter, was born, I wasn't able to do that. I was fighting tooth and nail to retain my card on the PGA Tour at that time. I barely spent any time with her in the first two, three months after she was born. So, I’m also trying to soak up that part of life, and I know it is important.
On the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews:
Of course, I’d love to play the tournament. But as I’ve said this in the past, when we do this for a living, there’s always something that you’re playing for, there's always something at stake. When I was playing on the PGTI in my first year, I'm like “If I finish in the top 10, I might get a country spot on the Asian Tour. Or I might get exempt invasion to a final stage”. You’re playing a tournament and you want to win or you want to do well, because there are implications and ripple effects that carry on.
In 16 years of playing at this level, you learn to understand that you just have to hit the next shot. If you do that well, then the ripple effect falls in favour. If you don’t, then you just go out and try and improve on that.
On how he turned around his driving issues:
With the driver, just becoming a free agent and breaking away from being tied down to one equipment manufacturer, helped me. I was able to go and explore equipment that was more suited to how I swing the club. I think a large part of the improvement in my driving and my strokes gained off the tee is to do with that. I have also worked harder at getting a little faster now than I was three years ago. And I'm still working as much as I can on continuing to do that, because driving further and well has almost become necessary to be relevant in the game.
The fact is also that it’s been six months since I saw my coach. And that is something that is always been a nagging issue with me being here out here in America. I almost feel like it becomes difficult for me to consistently keep improving. We work as best as we can remotely. I’ve worked with a few coaches here, and there hasn’t been the synergy that I've been looking for. Maybe we are all creatures of habit. Vijay (Divecha) sir probably takes 30 seconds to give me a lesson.
There’s a lot of work that go in week to week. I’m not probably as God gifted and talented as some of these guys out here. I have to work really hard at some specific areas.
On Tim Guiliano, his new caddie:
Tim and I have a really good energy on the golf course. I keep joking with him that he needs to go to Golf Anonymous like Alcoholics Anonymous, because he is more addicted to the sport than any human being I have ever met. He’ll caddy for me for an early morning tee time. He’d probably wake up at 4:30am, we play 18 holes, then we practice, and I call him at 6:30pm, and he is like at some random country club or public course. I’m like, ‘Dude, what the hell are you doing?’ And he is, like this is such a good golf course and I had to play it. That’s the kind of person he is…he just loves what he does.
He is one of the hardest working caddies out here. And now he’s come to understand me a little better in the past one year or so. He understands me, and he understands how I see the sport and he also understands that 90% of my technical issues are posture-related.
Just like us players have to adapt from one golf course to another, caddies need to adapt from player to player and I think he’s done a good job of understanding my needs and what helps me.
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