Ahead of PLAYERS C’ship, Lahiri says he is close to ‘finding the code’ to his game

Ponte Vedra
After almost seven seasons on the PGA Tour, Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri is still searching for his maiden win but far from being bogged down, he says he is close to ”putting it all together” as he gears up for this week’s USD 20 million PLAYERS Championship here.
Unfazed by his lack of title success, Lahiri said he is getting closer to finding his rhythm.
”I’m at that stage where I’m trying to find the code because I feel like I’m not too far from putting it all together. The beauty about what we do is that you’re one week away from being a PGA TOUR winner,” Lahiri said.
”You’re one week away from being at Augusta. You’re one week away from having a two, three year exemption. You’re one week away from you having a different kind of conversation with me.” Drawn to play with Peter Malnati and Alex Noren on the first two days of the PLAYERS at the famed TPC Sawgrass, Lahiri will tee off at 8.35 am in what will be his sixth start at the storied event. He has not had much success here with four missed cuts.
Lahiri feels his game is a work in progress as he readied himself for the flagship event of the Tour, which has almost all the Top-100 in the field.
”The last month has been a tough one. I’ve had different departments of my game challenge me. I think in Phoenix my putting was a big issue. At Riviera I managed to kind of get around that, but my driver wasn’t as well.
”Last week wasn’t pretty either. I know I made the cut, but it was a tough test. On the weekend, again, I think my iron play was something that let me down, and it showed because you couldn’t hit it offline last week,” he conceded.
Yet Lahiri is optimistic.
”Even coming into this week, just working on some improvements with my coach remotely, also looking at just tweaking my equipment a little bit. There’s always something around the corner I feel that could change it, and I think I found some good rhythm with my driving and my putting,” he said.
Lahiri has been a regular on the Tour since 2016, a year after his last international win at the 2015 Hero Indian Open at home. He has kept his card and status, though one year he came through the Korn Ferry finals.
Talking of the PLAYERS and his own view of it, Lahiri said, ”It’s like a major, and everybody goes about it in their most efficient way. For me personally, I haven’t had a lot of success.” ”The biggest difference coming into this week for me compared to previous years is I’m probably driving it the best I’ve driven it in a long time in my career. That is almost a prerequisite if you want to have any kind of success at TPC Sawgrass.