Lahiri makes PGA Tour career-best tied 2nd place finish

Dublin (Ohio), June 5 (IANS) Indian golfer Anirban Lahiris sensational seven-under 65 in the final round of The Memorial Tournament here on Sunday earned him a career-best tied second finish on the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour as he ended poor run of form on American soil.

Lahiri, whose previous best finish on the PGA Tour was tied third at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia earlier this season, got better with each round as he shot scores of two-over 74, 70, 69 and 65.

As a result, he also kept zooming up the leaderboard from tied 63rd to tied 40th to tied 27th to finally tied second at 10-under 278 total -- three shots behind the eventual champion Jason Dufner of the US.

The Bengaluru golfer's error-free seven-birdie round on the final day saw him gain 25 places as he shared the spot with Rickie Fowler of the US.

Lahiri, who had missed the cut in four of his last six outings since his tied fifth finish at the Hero Indian Open in March, picked up his highest ever prize money of $765,600 at the event worth $8.7 million.

He has now skyrocketed from 92nd to 44th place in the FedexCup Standings thus all but sealing his card on the PGA Tour for next season.

The 29-year-old, a two-time winner on the European Tour, rolled in a couple of putts from 15 to 20 feet and also landed it within eight feet for birdie on as many as four occasions at the Muirfield Village on Sunday, to make an outstanding final day charge.

The former Asian Tour champion is likely to move up 25 spots from his current 90th place in the world rankings. With this jump, he will strengthen his bid for a berth in the International Team for the 2017 Presidents Cup scheduled to be held in Jersey City, New Jersey, from September 26 to October 1.

Lahiri admitted that his desperation to improve his status hit him hard. "I've been pretty harsh on myself. I've beat myself up pretty bad. And coming into this week I just decided to be nice to myself and go out there and enjoy my golf, which I found wasn't happening as often as it should," the Indian was quoted as saying by pgatour.com.

"If you look at my last five starts, I don't think I finished better than 40th. And I definitely feel that I'm a better player than that. And sometimes when you push yourself harder, it works against you. I wasn't in a good frame of mind and I think that's what's changed this week," he added.

"There are many things to push for. Obviously, I want to be on the Presidents Cup team. I have unfinished business (in that tournament). I've said that before."