Anirban Lahiri close to locking up PGA Tour card with Web.com Finals win
At the PGA Championship in August, Anirban Lahiri became the first Indian player to finish in the top five in a major. The $367,500 Lahiri earned for the T-5 effort wasn’t enough to earn him a PGA Tour card, but it was enough to land him a spot in the Web.com Tour Finals, a four-event series featuring the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list and players finishing between 126th and 200th in the FedEx Cup standings.
It wasn’t exactly what Lahiri wanted, but he decided to take up the challenge of trying to earn one of 25 PGA Tour cards up for grabs in the series. There was only one catch: Lahiri could only play in three of the four events. He would miss the Web.com Tour Championship, the final event in the series, so that he could play in the conflicting Presidents Cup in South Korea.
In other words, Lahiri knew going into this week that he had three starts to earn enough money to score PGA Tour status. Turns out, Lahiri may only need one start.
Lahiri is in second place heading into the final round of the Hotel Fitness Championship in Indiana, the first event of the Finals. At 12-under 204, he trails D.H. Lee by three shots. A double bogey at the closing hole on Saturday cost him what, with a par, would have been a one-stroke deficit.
Lahiri, who won the PGA Championship long-drive contest, had a poor ballstriking day, but he made do with a 2-under 70 at Sycamore Hills Golf Club.
“It’s hard because I was hitting it all over the shop,” Lahiri said. “But all in all, I’m just three back. If I can put another good 18 holes together tomorrow we’ll see if I can get over the line.”
He added, “Now I just want the real Anirban to show up tomorrow.”
If Lahiri can hold his position or win on Sunday, he’s assured a 2015-16 PGA Tour card.
Sam Saunders, who played the PGA Tour this season, is alone in third at 11 under par, while four others are tied for fourth at 10 under.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
