After LIV Golf player Paul Casey made his first DP World Tour start for over two years at last week’s Porsche Singapore Classic, another star from the circuit gets in on the act this week at the Hero Indian Open.
Local favorite Anirban Lahiri will play in his country’s national open for the first time since 2019 after receiving an invitation to compete at DLF Golf and Country Club in Gurgaon.
The appearance will be Lahiri’s first on the DP World Tour since he missed the cut at the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open, which it co-sanctions with the PGA Tour.
Back then, LIV Golf was in its infancy and the Indian had not yet made the switch to the circuit. Lahiri eventually moved to LIV Golf the following month, and since then, his appearances beyond the big-money League have taken place largely on the Asian Tour, with just two exceptions.
One of those came at last year’s second Major of the year, the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, where he also played after receiving an invitation, but missed the cut.
This week’s start will not be his first in his homeland since joining LIV Golf, either, as he also appeared at the 2022 SSP Chawrasia Invitational on the Professional Golf Tour of India. That almost led to glory, as he finished runner-up, and he’ll be hoping the backing of the home crowd can inspire him to even greater success this week.
Lahiri’s most recent start at the event was its last edition before the Covid-19 pandemic led to it being cancelled for the next three years. Lahiri missed the cut five years ago and, by the time it returned last year, the 2015 Indian Open champion was a LIV golfer. That meant that while Marcel Siem claimed his first DP World Tour title in over eight years at the tournament, Lahiri was in Mexico for LIV Golf’s season-opener at El Camaleon Golf Club.
Lahiri, who plays for Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC, is still looking for his first LIV Golf win, but has recorded several top-10 finishes, including runner-up at last year’s events in Adelaide and Bedminster. However, despite also making nine appearances in tournaments away from LIV Golf since his move, like many more of its players, he has seen his standing in the world rankings fall considerably.
The 2022 Players Championship runner-up was ranked 92nd when he joined LIV Golf, but now languishes in 401st thanks to its inability to offer the points. Englishman Casey saw his world ranking jump 268 places following his finish of sixth in Singapore, from 832nd to 564th. Lahiri will surely also have one eye on a welcome leap up the rankings as he aims for his third DP World Tour win.
After LIV Golf’s most recent event in Hong Kong earlier in March, the League resumes on 5 April at Miami’s Trump National Doral.
