Lahiri keen on ending European season on a high in Dubai

A long but fruitful year on the European Tour will come to an end this week for Anirban Lahiri, widely seen as the new rising star from Asia.

Lahiri, 28, who had a spectacular 2015, will tee up on Thursday at the DP World Tour Championships at the Earth Course on the Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Lahiri becomes only the second Indian after Jeev Milkha Singh to tee up at the DP World Tour Championships. Jeev played it in 2009 and 2012, and had a best finish of T-13 in 2012.

Lahiri, who entered World's Top-50 with his twin wins in Malaysia and Hero Indian Open, has managed to hold his own.
 

"It's obviously been a great year for me. Any year that you win is a good year. Any year that you win twice is a great year. When you can do that in your rookie year, that's obviously fantastic, so I'm really happy with that. And it would be great to finish on a high note."

Lahiri looking fresh and re-charged after a week's rest is keen on finishing the season on a high note, just as he had begun it at the start of the year.

The 28-year-old Lahiri criss-crossed the globe as he put together a memorable year that saw him win twice on European Tour, register a Top-5 finish at the PGA Championships, wrap up his 2016 PGA Tour card and also become the first Indian to play at the President's Cup.

He said, "It's obviously been a great year for me. Any year that you win is a good year. Any year that you win twice is a great year. When you can do that in your rookie year, that's obviously fantastic, so I'm really happy with that. And it would be great to finish on a high note."

He added, "Yes it is going to be another new course. The number could soon become a book. On a more serious note, I like the course. It suits my eye and I want to round off the season on a solid note. As of now my other engagement this season is the Hero World Challenge in Bahamas, which also I am looking forward, to.
Lahiri skipped two of the four events in the Race to

Dubai Finals Series. He skipped the Turkish Airlines Open to play the CIMB Classic, an event co-sanctioned by the Asian and PGA Tours and last week, he skipped the BMW Masters in Shanghai to get some rest before Dubai.

Lahiri is also one of the four players in the Race to be the Rookie of the Year. Korea's Byeong Hun An, Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick, Lahiri (19th) and Sweden's Rikard Karlberg are the only Rookies to qualify for the elite 60-man field.

Despite missing Turkish Airlines Open and BMW Masters, neither of which had a cut, Lahiri still has a mathematical chance of winning the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award. Lahiri will need to win or at least finish in Top-3 to have the chance of becoming the Rookie of the Year but at the same time, An and Fitzpatrick will need to finish well behind him.

"Overall, it's been a huge season for me. I've played a lot of golf on the other side of the Atlantic, as well. So I haven't actually done justice to the full season out here. I do feel like I wish I could have played a little bit more. But having said that, I think it's been a great first year as a member."

Lahiri, who arrived here on Monday, played around eight holes on Wednesday with Max Kieffer and plays his first round with South African Jaco Van Zyl.

Lahiri will become only the second Indian after Jeev Milkha Singh to tee up at the DP World Tour Championships final. Jeev played in it twice, in 2009 and 2012. Jeev's best has been Tied-13th in 2012.