Sharma joins Lahiri on PGA Tour this week

Team Udayavani, May 23, 2018, 11:27 AM IST

Fort Worth (US): Buoyed by a good finish in Dallas, Anirban Lahiri will have fellow Indian Shubhankar Sharma for company on the PGA Tour here this week. 

Lahiri, who finished tied-26th on Sunday to equal his best finish in 2018, has now fallen outside top-100 of World Rankings after being in it for more than 200 weeks. Sharma is currently the highest ranked Indian at 74.

Some of the big names in the field this week include the PLAYERS champion Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose, Jimmy Walker and Jason Dufner among others.

It is a golf course I like and I have done well at it. The same goes for the memorial, which we play the week after, said Lahiri referring to the Colonial Country Golf Club. 

Interestingly, Lahiri was tied-6th at the Colonial in 2016 and tied-2nd at the Memorial last year, which to date is his best finish on the PGA Tour.

My game is trending in the right direction. It is a question of being better on the greens. I need to tighten up my game a bit of the tee and need to be better with the putter. At Byron Nelson, I could have been way better if only my conversion rate from between 5 to 10 feet was even 60-70 %. That has been the difference for me, added Lahiri.

Lahiri will be joined by Sharma for the next two weeks on the PGA Tour. Sharma has won twice on the European Tour this year in Johannesburg and Malaysia and is now trying to get onto the PGA Tour. 

Sharma, who shot into limelight with a sensational 54-hole lead on his WGC debut in Mexico before ending up tied-9th, has since played at the WGC-Matchplay, Masters and Texas Open. The youngster is trying to adjust to the weather and course conditions in US.

Sharma, who is coming off a three-week rest at home said, I had a great time with my break, though I did work on my game and fitness in that period. I feel my game is in good shape and I will be trying to put up a strong performance.

I have heard a lot about the two events at the Colonial and memorial. I spoke to Arjun (Atwal) about them and he gave me some tips and he also mentioned that these two courses would suit my game. I played the Pro-Am and really loved the layout and am looking forward to it.