CHENNAI: When Anirban Lahiri landed in Ahmedabad on March 11, his plan was to work on his game with his coach, play the Indian Open in New Delhi starting a week later and skip about two events on the PGA Tour in order to stay and train in India for a couple of weeks more. Little did he know that he was in for an extended stay at his parent’s place in Hyderabad.
Events cancelled, plans changed and things looking uncertain for the foreseeable future, the golfer is spending some rare time at home nonetheless. The last time he visited Hyderabad was for ‘two-three days’ in 2017. With nowhere to go and no golf to play, the Florida-based professional is enjoying what he calls ‘a blessing in disguise’ with parents, wife and his one-year-old daughter.
Having left his golf kit behind in Ahmedabad, he can only use his father’s clubs for swing practice, other than going for walks in the open expanses of the Army Welfare Housing in Secunderabad where his parents live. But more than that, Lahiri feels this forced break gives him a chance to do something he had almost stopped. A self-proclaimed beneficiary of yoga and meditation, he has started doing these again.
“These are useful for all players, although their importance varies from person to person. Yoga and meditation played a vital role in my progress as a player. But with 8-10 hours devoted to golf and bringing up a child in the US, where you have to do a lot of household things yourself, I didn’t have much time for these in the last few years. This break has given me a chance to restart these activities,” Lahiri told this newspaper on Sunday.
Lahiri was into a kind of meditation called Vipassana and often credited it for good performances, including a tied-fifth finish at the 2015 PGA Championship — the best-ever by an Indian at the Major events. He had even donated $25,000 to the Vipassana Foundation after winning a ‘long drive’ competition held just before that competition.
“After shifting to the US, working on the game and at the gym took precedence and gradually, yoga and meditation went out of my daily routine. Not that I never did those, but they became sporadic since I hardly had the time or energy after doing everything else. Now is the chance to make them part of my routine once again,” said the only Indian regular at the highest level of professional golf.
Even though he has been playing on the PGA Tour since 2016, Lahiri’s graph has dipped drastically in the last few years. From a career-best 33rd in 2015, he has slipped to 493rd in world rankings. Having retained his card in the US through the qualifying channel, the 32-year-old has not done well this season either, having missed the cut in four of six tournaments, with a best of tied 44th. This prompted him to take a break before the lockdown brought everything to a standstill.
“My game was horrendous and I was prepared to miss a couple of events on the PGA Tour so that I could train in Ahmedabad with my coach Vijay Divecha. And that’s what I was doing. However, everything has become uncertain now. I can’t say I am not liking this though,” added the player who is also brushing up his cooking skills when not running after daughter Tisya.