Lahiri hoping to change fortunes in Nicklaus' tournament

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri, who is facing a slump in fortunes, will be looking to pick up the pieces at the Memorial Tournament, hosted by the legendary Jack Nicklaus.

Anirban Lahiri, who is also a member at Nicklaus’ Bear Club in Florida, will be hoping that his association with the legend will improve his scores this week.

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri, who is facing a slump in fortunes, will be looking to pick up the pieces at the Memorial Tournament, hosted by the legendary Jack Nicklaus.

Lahiri, who is also a member at Nicklaus’ Bear Club in Florida, will be hoping that his association with the legend will improve his scores this week. Lahiri, who has missed three cuts in a row, the first time he has done so on the PGA Tour, has gone down to No. 90 in world rankings and is 92nd on FedEx Cup rankings.

It is a far cry from what the situation was in the early part of the season, when he nearly won in CIMB Classic and had two other Top-15 finishes.

He has broken 70 in only two rounds, both times in the first round, in last 16 rounds over seven tournaments going back to Palmer Invitational in mid-March.

Lahiri has been paired with Scott Brown and Camilo Villegas in the first two rounds.

What has been irksome for Lahiri is that he has been creating chances but has not been able to convert them on the greens.

He will hope to rectify that and put the remaining challenge in the season back on rails.

Scheduled two weeks before the US Open and three weeks after the PLAYERS, the Memorial Tournament serves as an ideal way for some of the world’s top players to prepare for the second major of the campaign.

In attendance this week will be World No.1, No.3, No.4 and No.6 —— Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama and Jordan Spieth and add to them No.9 the star Jon Rahm.

However, world No. 2 Rory McIlroy is not playing because of his injury and World No. 5 Henrik Stenson is playing in his country, Sweden.

The course, Muirfield Village is a par-72, and is neither brutally long nor especially short, but typically like all Nicklaus designs, it is a course which demands a good second shot.