Shrugging aside his disappointment of missing the cut at the PLAYERS Championship last week, India’s Anirban Lahiri will be out to prove a point when he tees off along side Ricky Barnes and Sung Kang at the Byron Nelson golf tournament here.
Lahiri has been struggling with some parts of his game, notably on the greens this year as he fell outside the top-100 in world rankings last week for the first time in more than four years.
Though Lahiri missed the cut in the 2017 edition, he was tied 46th in 2016, when he had superb rounds of 65 and 66 on second and fourth days. And he will feed off those memories to turn around the season for him.
Read: 'Exhausted' Simpson savours first win in five years
Though Lahiri started the wrap-around season well with two top-10 finishes in CIMB Classic and CJ Cup@Nine Bridges late in 2017, he has scored below expectations in 2018. Through 10 starts this calendar year, he has missed four cuts, two of them in last two starts and made six, but not registered a single top-10 finish. His best has been tied 26th in Genesis Open.
The field also has Daniel Chopra, who plays with Rory Sabbatini and Steve Wheatcroft.
In his only PGA Tour start in 2018, the two-time PGA Tour winner Chopra played the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Chamionships and finished tied 45th.
This is the fourth PGA Tour event in Texas this season, and is the first of the two historical tournaments, each of which has ties to a legend of the game.
The AT&T Byron Nelson in Dallas dates back to 1944 and one of two events named after a former professional golfer — the other being the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Nelson, born and raised in Texas, won five major championships but is best known for winning 11 straight events and 18 tournaments overall in 1945.
The highest-ranked player in the FedEx Cup standings who will compete is Scott Piercy, who is 28th.
The highest-ranked player in the world rankings teeing this week is Jordan Spieth, who is No. 3, and has strong ties with the event, where he played as an amateur in 2010. But he is one of just four top-20 players in the field, the others being No. 9 Hideki Matsuyama, No. 14 Sergio Garcia, No. 16 Marc Leishman.
Some of the other notable players in the field are Matt Kuchar, Jimmy Walker, Adam Scott, Billy Horschel, Beau Hossler, Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Hunter Mahan, Maverick McNealy, Ernie Els and David Duval.
Comments
SHARE