Material, mental tweaks as leader Anirban Lahiri lights up Players Championship

Finishing atop the leaderboard on a Sunday evening is every golfer’s dream and Anirban Lahiri would have felt utmost satisfaction as he walked off the 11th green in gathering gloom at TPC Sawgrass, Florida.

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The Players Championship, a $20 million event regarded as the unofficial fifth Major, may see the Indian as a surprise leader in the context of a global game narrative and Lahiri’s own sputtering run, particularly on the US PGA Tour.

The force of nature on the Florida coast in the form of thunderstorms on Friday and Saturday played havoc with the playing schedule, and the fortunes of a number of global stars. While many Major winners were buffeted by wind and rain, the golfing gods seemed to finally smile on Lahiri.

On Monday evening, Lahiri shot a five-under 67 in the third round, matching his career best card of the opening round. At nine-under overall, the Indian player took a one-shot lead into the final round, to be played on Monday night India time (afternoon in the US). Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz, Americans Dough Ghim and Sam Burns and Britain’s Paul Casey were all one shot adrift, on eight-under.

Holding the lead in a tournament of this stature is very special. A five-under first round 67 has been crucial while six birdies helped cushion a late bogey in the third round. What stood out as Lahiri rose to the top of the standings though was the great control in his iron play.

The 34-year-old though will be focused merely on the next shot on Monday in the final rush to finish the tournament. A seven-year wait for a title has been more like a festering golfing wound. His last victory was at the Hero Indian Open in February, 2015, the second European Tour co-sanctioned event he won after a one-shot win in the Maybank Malaysian Open earlier that month.

Going into the Players Championship, Lahiri had spoken about his priority, rediscovering the joy of playing golf and putting things together to produce rounds befitting the level at which he is certain he can play.

Seven years on the PGA Tour has not produced a title. Lahiri’s game though was hot in his first season—2015. His tied fifth at the 2015 PGA Championships is the best by an Indian in a Major. The first top-10 finish in a Major was by the pioneering Jeev Milkha Singh, who ended tied seventh in the weather-hit 2008 US PGA Championship.

Even the most successful golfers can be plagued by self-doubts when their game does not work. And Lahiri acknowledged falling out of love with the game that had led the Bengaluru-based player to shift base to the US. At the Players Championship, the Indian, ranked a modest 322, has allied his focus to an equipment tweak that is paying dividends.

“The nature of what we do, it’s unpredictable,” Lahiri said, after Sunday’s round. “You just don’t know. You grind away, you keep chipping away, and when it clicks it clicks.”

After his career-best 67 in the first round, Lahiri revealed that adding 3.5 grams to his irons has made a huge difference in gaining control over shots. On Thursday, also hit by poor weather, his round included an eagle, four birdies and a bogey that left him one shot behind the leaders.

Lahiri has struggled at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Of his five appearances in the Players Championship there, he has missed the cut four times and finished tied 74th in 2019.

“I’ve been working hard on trying to clean up my game, so it was nice to see it come together,” he said after the first round. “I think the biggest difference was we made a change to the irons this week. I changed the weight, and the irons have been my weak link, and they came out much better. I feel like my confidence is getting better, which is really positive.

“It’s really something that’s minor. I’ve added maybe 3-1/2 grams to all of my irons. It sounds like inconsequential, but it almost makes a 10, 12-yard difference in our line. These last couple of weeks especially we’ve been playing really tough golf courses, and you hit it four or five yards offline and you can make six instead of three. And I had a lot of that happen to me.

“So, it’s frustrating when you know you’re not making bad swings and you’re not getting the results you want, so it’s equally satisfying when it comes together like this.”

The significance of the technical change can be gauged from the fact that he had missed the cut in three of the previous four events on the PGA Tour, and in seven of the 12 events through this season.

Despite slipping in the second round—he shot a one-over 73—Lahiri showed great control throughout the third round, exemplified by the tournament leader calmly taking a bogey on the 10th after an errant tee shot.

Lahiri has 18 pro titles but The Players Championship success would be beyond all dreams. “It all comes down to how you play on the weekend,” he said. “This weekend, which is Sunday, Monday.”

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