United News of India
Sentosa, Dec 14: Ace golfer Anirban Lahiri became Monday the fourth Indian to win the region’s most prestigious Asian Tour’s Order of Merit crown. The Bangalore-based golfer with earnings of 1,139,084 dollars currently enjoys a huge lead over second- placed Scott Hend ($ 4,91,631) of Australia. And with one tournament to go, the Aussie, even if he wins it can’t surpass Lahiri.
The World No. 41 had a fruitful season, where he won twice on the region’s premier Tour, broke into the world’s top 50, posted a top-five finish in a Major at the PGA Championships, qualified for his maiden Presidents Cup and earned his Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour card in the United States.
After bagging the award, the 28-year-old said he was honoured to join Asian golf legends such as Thongchai Jaidee and Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand and countrymen Jeev Milkha Singh (2006, 2008), Arjun Atwal (2003) and Jyoti Randhawa (2002) as Asia’s No. 1 golfer.
“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to win,” said Lahiri, who finished third and second on the Merit list in 2013 and 2014, respectively, in a release. “I feel really happy and it makes me really proud to be in the same league of players like Thongchai, Jeev, Arjun, Thaworn and Jyoti as they are all legends of the game and have won the Order of Merit. It is really special.”
The Indian won the Maybank Malaysian Open and Hero Indian Open within a span of three weeks in February and went on to record five other top 10s around the world.
“Winning in Malaysia and then the Indian Open will always be my cherished moments. Those wins got me into the Masters and playing The Open at St Andrews for the first time, it’s been a year filled with highlights for sure,” he said.
“Coming in joint fifth at the PGA Championships, it’s been fantastic. There was so much that I took away from the week. The confidence and self-belief that I gained and earning the respect of the best players in the world … that’s not easily done,” added Lahiri.
