Anirban Lahiri. File Pic
Orlando, Florida, March 2/3: Anirban Lahiri will tee up at the prestigious Arnold Palmer Invitational hoping to stop the run of missed cuts and make up for a series of disappointing starts this season. Lahiri, who was looking to 2022 to make a fast start and get some solid results, has missed the cut in last three starts and his best in 2022 has been T-46 at Farmers Insurance Open.
Lahiri, who despite not winning on the PGA Tour, where he has been a regular since 2016, has managed to keep his card, though on one occasion he had to come through the Korn Ferry Finals. There have been Top-10s and even a second place over these years, but victory continues to elude him since the 2015 Hero Indian Open on European and Asian Tour.
This week Lahiri plays the first two days with JJ Spaun and Adam Schenk in a star-studded field at the Arnold Palmer event, which now carries a whopping prize purse of $ 12 million. The event comes ahead of the block buster, The PLAYERS, which carries a purse of $ 20 million.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational, which deserves a stronger field, will still have 30 of the world’s top-50 on site at Bay Hill this week.
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau who beat Lee Westwood by a one stroke last year, has pulled out due to injury. He has withdrawn from the tournament due to an ongoing injury.
Bay Hill has plenty of hazards –both the sand and water – which gobble up wayward shots.
The finish at Bay Hill is particularly challenging with the par-3 17th and par-4 18th both averaging over their allotted par during tournament week. The scoring is always a challenge and only once in the past decade (in 2020) has the winning score been double digits under par.
Iron play is the key at Bay Hill and Will Zalatoris leads the Tour in stokes gained Approach this season. He was T10 here last year and has some strong connections to the tournament namesake having attended Wake Forest University, as did Palmer.
The 2018 champion Rory McIlroy is a perennial contender here and can’t be left out of considerations. England’s Matt Fitzpatrick is another one who likes the event with three top-10 finishes in seven starts here. His recent form gave him top 10’s at both Pebble Beach and the Phoenix Open.
