CHENNAI: Wyndham Championship is a landmark event on the PGA Tour for Indians who follow golf. Arjun Atwal's triumph there in 2010 remains the lone Indian victory at the highest level of the game. On a smaller scale, the event this year will be a special one for Anirban Lahiri.
The lone Indian eligible to play a full season on PGA Tour, Lahiri is planning to return to action at the tournament in North Carolina from August 13-16, after not playing for more than four months. He had come to India in March and got stuck due to the lockdown. The PGA Tour, which was forced into a three-month break, has staged seven events after resumption in June. Lahiri had to miss those because international flights from India were suspended. He will also be missing the PGA Championship from August 6-9.
Having used this time to train under coach Vijay Divecha in Ahmedabad, the 37-year-old is waiting for confirmation on a United Airlines flight on August 5 from Bengaluru to New York. He will then proceed to Palm Beach Gardens in Florida, where he lives with his wife and one-year-old daughter. Whether he can start playing immediately depends on a Covid-19 test.
"Going by arrangements made by PGA Tour, there will be a testing kit at my house. The result will come in about 24 hours. If it is negative, there is no need to be in quarantine and I can start playing. Wyndham Championship will be the first competition I will play in. I am not thinking about anything else other than getting back to competitions," Lahiri told this daily.
A regular on the PGA Tour since 2016, Lahiri is getting ready for a new experience that will include playing in a bio-secure environment and following other protocols. There will also be players who have recently recovered after contracting the virus. "All those shouldn't be a problem. The PGA has taken all precautions. We will just have to follow those."
The break has meant a dip in rankings and Lahiri has slipped to 556 in the world after starting the year at 413. That is a major fall considering that he was inside the top 100 two years ago. The absence has also taken a toll on his earnings.
"It's difficult to quantify what or how much I have lost. Probably, it will depend on how I play. The break was fruitful in the sense that I used it to improve my game. I just have to start playing."