Anirban Lahiri: Taking Indian professional golf to new levels
Anirban Lahiri has been one of Indian golf’s trailblazers, enjoying a career that has seen him celebrate 18 professional wins worldwide and represent his country twice at the Olympics and in the World Cup of Golf.
He achieved the highest placing for an Indian pro in a Major by finishing T5 in the 2015 PGA Championship and he is the only Indian golfer to have played in the Presidents Cup, having been selected in 2015 and 2017.
It was his father’s love for golf that sparked young Lahiri’s interest in the game, but his first challenge on the road to being a professional was having to convince family and friends that it was a viable career.
“When I was growing up in the late 1990s it was all about ‘are you going to be a doctor or an engineer?’” he told Fairway To Heaven, LIV Golf’s official podcast.
Expectation was high with his father being a doctor and his mother a professor of English, but they were his two biggest supporters.
“When I got into golf there was definitely a lot of pressure on my parents from extended family as India isn’t a country that recognises sport as a profession – unless it’s cricket of course.”
“My parents stood behind me and shut that noise out.
“But even after I won my first pro event a family member said ‘great, you can put that on your CV when you go to business school’.”
From the Indian Golf Tour to a hole in one at The Open
From the Indian Golf Tour to a hole in one at The Open
Lahiri, 37, was born in Pune in 1987 but with his father being an army doctor, his home base changed regularly and his formative years were spent in Ahmedabad.
To pursue his golfing ambition, Lahiri moved to Bengaluru in 2005 to train under coach Vijay Divecha, who he names as being one of the biggest influences on his career and “almost a third parent”.
He turned pro in 2007, making his debut on the Professional Golf Tour of India, and at the age of 22 landed his maiden tournament win at the 2009 Haryana Open.
That was followed two months later with success at the BILT Open and Lahiri topped the PGTI Order of Merit by the end of the year.
They were the first of eleven titles he was to collect on the Indian tour.
Lahiri had also joined the Asian Tour in 2008 and won his first continental title after a playoff at the 2011 Panasonic Open in India.
He marked his debut at the Majors in 2012 in spectacular style, with a hole-in-one on day three of The Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
Lahiri’s drive on the 149-yard, par-3 ninth hole collected a nice kick from the shoulder of the green to sweep round from right to left and roll gently into the cup.
That eagle not only helped him to a T31 finish in the British Open, it introduced him properly to the wider golfing world.
In 2014 Lahiri married Ipsa Jamwal and was on honeymoon when he learned he had qualified for The Open as one of the highest ranked non-exempt players on the official world golf rankings.
That meant abandoning his new wife and swapping his travel bags for his golf bag.
“I am two days into my 10-day honeymoon. In the middle of a tropical rainforest in Madagascar and trying to get back to India now ASAP,” he told the Asian Tour.
“Total chaos. Will have to make it up to the wife big time. Super excited.”
Lahiri’s first win on the European Tour came with a one-stroke victory over Bernd Wiesberger at the 2015 Maybank Malaysian Open – which was also part of the Asian Tour – having been four shots down at the start of the final day.
Recognition in the world rankings and the Olympics
Recognition in the world rankings and the Olympics
Just two weeks later, Lahiri completed what he describes as his proudest moment in golf, winning the 2015 Indian Open.
He did it the hard way too, starting the final day seven strokes off the pace in T6.
While overnight leader Shiv Chawrasia stumbled to a final round 76, Lahiri forced a playoff, shooting a 69 before sealing the win with a birdie on the first extra hole.
That run of success projected Lahiri into the top 50 of the official world golf rankings for the first time and earned him a start in The Masters two months later.
After making the cut at Augusta and being placed T49 on his Masters debut, he excelled at the 2015 PGA Championship with a score of 13 under at Whistling Straits, earning a tie for fifth place.
That set a record for the highest finish for an Indian golfer in a Major tournament and he set yet another landmark towards the end of the year by becoming the first player from India to be selected for the Presidents Cup.
For 2016 Lahiri played on the PGA Tour and also qualified for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where he finished 57th – and four years later he qualified once more, finishing T42 at Tokyo 2020.
He made the Presidents Cup squad again in 2017 and also achieved his best ever finish on the PGA Tour with a T2 at the Memorial Tournament and 51st in the FedEx Cup standings.
Anirban Lahiri at the 2022 Players Championship
Anirban Lahiri at the 2022 Players Championship
While bad weather can be a dampener for some on the golf course, Anirban Lahiri somehow manages to shine.
Lahiri had qualified for the 2022 Players Championship by finishing 118th in the 2021 FedEx Cup standings and retaining his PGA Tour card.
The tournament at TPC Sawgrass was blighted by rain and heavy winds which saw the event spill over five days.
The third round didn’t begin until 3.15pm on the Sunday and while many of golf’s elite had fallen out of contention after 54 holes, Lahiri led the field by one stroke at 9 under.
Sadly for him the whirlwind that is Cameron Smith powered through Monday’s play with 10 birdies over his final 18 holes for a 66, to end 13 under and squeeze the Indian star – who shot a competitive final-round 69 – into second place by one stroke.
It was a stand-out performance from Lahiri and as the runner-up he collected $2,180,000 in prize money.
Signing his LIV Golf contract in 2022
Signing his LIV Golf contract in 2022
Anirban Lahiri signed up for the inaugural LIV Golf season, saying the main reason was the chance to play among friends in the new team format that LIV provided.
“It's a very lonely life out there as a top athlete, and that is something many fans are unable to comprehend,” he said.
“Finishing second at The Players was such a huge thing for me, but I could not celebrate until four months later in July when I visited India after the Scottish Open.
"I see this as an effort to correct my work-life balance."
Lahiri had missed the opening three LIV tournaments of 2022 but made a flying start on his debut in Boston for Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC, finishing in a three-way tie for first place.
Dustin Johnson booked No.1 spot after a playoff while Lahiri was runner-up, earning $1,812,500 in prize money.
Two more second-places through 2023 helped him secure 13th in the individual player standings and there were huge celebrations for Crushers as Lahiri and his team-mates won the Team Championship finale in Miami.
Last season he was a runner-up yet again, this time at LIV Golf Andalucia where a missed putt from two-feet for a par on the 18th cost him outright victory, Lahiri eventually losing the playoff with Sergio Garcia on the second extra hole.
It was another good showing in the individual rankings where 16th place ensured he’d spend 2025 with Crushers again.
Moving to a new home in Dubai
Moving to a new home in Dubai
Lahiri is based in Dubai having taken the decision to move there in 2023 with wife Ipsa Jamwal Lahiri and their young daughter and son.
“I wanted to get back closer to home,” he told Fairway To Heaven.
“My wife and I were in the capital of professional golf, Jupiter, Florida, but we wanted to have a life away from the golf course.
“We get that in Dubai and it's close to home [India], so my parents can fly in, her parents can fly in.
“It's like going from Palm Beach to New York, a three-hour flight, so it was the next best thing to moving back home
“Also, the schooling options are good, I’ve got two young kids, five and two, and most of the decisions I’m making in my life now are for the kids more than me.
In 2024 he launched the BAAN Foundation, a project designed to help support and promote golf at grassroots level in India.
Away from golf Lahiri is a keen cook as food is a big part of Bengali culture, and he likes music from Tiesto to Linkin Park and has practiced Vipassana meditation.
Lahiri is 5ft 9in tall and the correct pronunciation of his name is ‘Ah-ner-bahn La-here-e’.
WITB: What’s in Anirban Lahiri’s golf bag?
WITB: What’s in Anirban Lahiri’s golf bag?
When Lahiri joined LIV Golf in 2022, he didn’t have an equipment deal so favored a selection of brands in his golf bag.
The big guns included a Titleist TSi3 driver (10°, Aldila Rogue White 130MSI 60TX shaft) with TaylorMade SIM2 Ti 3-wood and 5-wood (Mitsubishi Kai’li Blue Prototype 70 TX and 80 TX shafts).
He preferred a Srixon ZX Utility 4-iron (23°, Mitsubishi MMT UT 105 TX shaft) and from 5-iron to pitching wedge his bag was stocked with Srixon Z945 (Nippon Modus Tour 120 X shafts).
His wedge collection comprised Titleist Vokey SM9 (50°-12F), Vokey Wedgeworks 2020 (54°-M, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts) and Titleist Vokey Wedgeworks 2022 (60°-T, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shaft)
An Odyssey Toulon Garage Austin putter completed his bag.
