Lahiri back in action at Wells Fargo; Tiger ready with new set of irons

Anirban Lahiri will make yet another attempt to salvage his season as he returns to competition at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club.

Lahiri began the season late last year well with Top-10s at CIMB Classic and CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges, but since has been found wanting.

With the competition scheduled a week before the PLAYERS Championships, the flagship event of the PGA Tour, Lahiri knows it is an important outing to get himself into the right frame for the coming week.

While Lahiri is trying to ensure that he does not have to struggle at the end of the season to get to the FedEX Cup, where he made the third leg last year, there is also Tiger Woods, looking stronger each week.

It is a solid field with Rory McIlroy looking solid and Jason Day also being touted as one of the favourites. The field includes Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson besides Tony Finau who has been consistent and knocking on the door.

Lahiri will be one of the early starters at 7.10 am with Trey Mullinax and JJ Henry, while Woods is a later afternoon starter with Masters champion Patrick Reed and the 2017 US Open winner, Brooks Koepka, who is back in action after being out due to injuries.

Meanwhile, in six starts, Woods has a T-2 at Valspar, T5 at Palmer Invitational and T-12 at Honda Classic and he was T-32 at Masters. Ever since his return at his own Hero World Challenge in Bahamas last December, Woods has shown great progress and looked like winning at various stages.

Also in focus will be Woods's much awaited set of TaylorMade irons. On the eve of the tournament, Wells Fargo Championship, Woods posted a photo on social media of new prototypes in the bag and noted they were "Phase 1 of iron development.