Anirban Lahiri lifts PGTI Golf Championship title

Anirban Lahiri led all through to clinch the PGTI Golf Championship by six strokes at the Aamby Valley golf course on
Friday.

The 22-year-old, who has had a near perfect week, finished the day with a five-under 67 to take his four-day tally to 24-under 264.

The Bangalore-based pro also broke the PGTI record of 22-under 266 registered by Jyoti Randhawa in 2007. Lahiri also erased the course mark set by Gaganjeet Bhullar a year ago.

Lahiri (65 65 67 67) started slowly and gave Shamim Khan a small window of opportunity as he bogeyed the first two holes and followed that up with four pars from the third through the sixth. Meanwhile, Shamim birdied the first, third and fifth to close the gap to two strokes.

A small lapse by Shamim, though, may have cost the crowd a interesting contest as he bogeyed on the eighth hole after which Lahiri capitalised on the mistake and never looked back. Lahiri collected birdies on the seventh, ninth, 11th and 12th to open up a five-stroke lead.

He made a couple of excellent chips on the seventh and ninth and then sank some long putts on the 11th and 12th holes. Lahiri cruised to his third professional title after making birdies on the 14th and 17th. Lahiri said after the tournament, “I’m happy with the way I have played this week and it’s something that I can draw a lot of confidence from. Hopefully I can get the ball rolling for the rest of the year.”

Asked whether the tournament had been a breeze for him, he said, “I was definitely under pressure on the front-nine when Shamim was playing really well, but the pressure eased out on the back-nine after a bogey. Hats off to Shamim, he played some great golf.”

Lahiri will head for Thailand to take part in the Queens Cup in
June.