Charlotte (North Carolina): India’s Anirban Lahiri settled for a share of sixth place at the Wells Fargo Championship as two late bogeys dented his hopes of a maiden PGA Tour victory.
Lahiri, who began the day in tied-third place at TPC Potomac on Sunday, signed off with a 1-over 71 to finish the week on 3-under 277, five shots behind winner Max Homa of the US who clinched his second Wells Fargo Championship victory and fourth PGA Tour title after a closing 68.
The 34-year-old Indian rued successive bogeys on Hole Nos. 15 and 16.
“Very disappointed with how I finished over the last six holes, I think I battled quite hard and I put myself in a good position to make a run with five, six holes to go. Got through most of the difficult holes and then had close misses on 13 and 14, and then a poor shot on 15. Just a little disappointed and frustrated with how I ended up,” said Lahiri.
Still, Lahiri has every reason to be upbeat after producing a second top-10 of the season on the back of a runner-up finish at The Players Championship, the Tour’s flagship event, in March. He moved up to 44th place on the FedEx Cup standings and should also enhance his bid to earn a place in the International Team for the Presidents Cup later this year as well.
“All in all, it was a really good week,” said Lahiri, who also shot up 11 rungs to No. 74 on the latest Official World Golf Ranking.
“To be in contention on Sunday was (the) goal at the start of the week, so I can definitely look back and say I have accomplished the goal I had at the beginning of the week. I would have liked to finish it better and that’s definitely a work in progress. I feel like I’m playing well enough to at least put myself consistently in this situation. I’m proud of the way I handled everything that came my way.
“A lot of takeaways from the week, both positive and things that I can definitely improve on. I didn’t drive it very well this week, well below the standard that I usually set for myself.”
He will take a week off as he and his wife, Ipsa are welcoming their second child, a boy, on May 22, the final day of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills. He has earned his place at the PGA Championship but is prepared to give it a miss if the baby does not arrive earlier than the due date. Lahiri’s last major appearance was at the 2019 US Open.
“I’m taking next week off in the hope that No. 2 does come … we’ll see,” said Lahiri, who finished T5 at the 2015 PGA Championship for his best major outing. “There’s a high likelihood that if he does decide to show up this coming week, then I guess I’ll show up at Southern Hills. Family definitely comes ahead of work.”
CT Pan of Chinese Taipei was the next best-placed Asian finisher at T15 after closing with a 70 for 1-under 279 while Korea’s KH Lee, who was T8 after the first round, closed with 72 for T25. 2017 The Players champion Si Woo Kim carded a 75 to finish T37.
Final-Round Leaderboard
Max Homa: 67-66-71-68 — 272 (-8);
Matt Fitzpatrick: 68-68-71-67 — 274 (-6), Cameron Young: 68-71-69-66 — 274 (-6); Keegan Bradley 70-65-67-72 — 274 (-6);
Rory McIlroy: 67-73-68-68-276 (-4).
–IANS
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