Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam: India’s rising star Anirban Lahiri will rely on the short putter in his hunt for a fourth Asian Tour title at the Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters on Thursday.
The three-time Asian Tour, who previously used the belly putter, opted for the shorter flat stick at last week’s Queen’s Cup in Thailand where he finished tied 10th after fighting his way into contention.
Lahiri is amongst a star-studded cast which includes title holder Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand, Bangladeshi Siddikur, American Jonathan Moore, Filipino Angelo Que, Australia’s Scott Hend and Korea’s Baek Seuk-hyun at the RM1.2 million (US$400,000) Asian Tour event this week.
“I’m feeling confident with the short putter which is important if I want to go on to win an event. I’m feeling comfortable and good with my game,” said Lahiri.
“I wasn’t thrilled with the way I was putting with the belly putter in the early part of the season. I had decided with my coach that I was going to try out the short putter in Thailand and Selangor and another two more events back home before making a decision for the rest of the season,” he added.
He believes the tree-lined Seri Selangor course will provide a stern test for the stars of the Asian Tour, which is celebrating its milestone 10th season as a players’ organisation in 2013.
“I was telling some of the rookies that anyone who has come out for these two weeks are playing two of the toughest courses that we play all year. You won’t see 16 or 17 under winning the tournament. Single digit might be good enough,” said the 25-year-old.
Upcoming Thai Arnond Vongvanij, who finished second at the Queen’s Cup on home soil on Sunday, also hopes a new putter will guide him to a second Asian Tour title.
“There were a lot of reasons why I played well last week and putting was one of them. Maybe it had something to do with my new putter. I used my old putter for eight years so I’m quite surprised that I changed it,” said Arnond.
Siddikur is determined to build on his solid track record at the Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters where he has yet to finish outside the top-five in the event since 2011. He was in contention in last week’s Queen’s Cup before finishing tied eighth.
“I always enjoy playing in this tournament. I have good memories and I did very well here. The course has changed a bit. The greens are fast and the fairways have improved. My game was great at the Queen’s Cup but unfortunately I didn’t have a good final round,” he said.
“Last week’s golf course is almost similar as this. You need to place the ball at the correct place to have a good score here,” added Siddikur, who is the first Bangladeshi to play and win on the Asian Tour.
Berry Henson of the United States fancies his chances at Seri Selangor despite playing the course for the first time. He is among more than 30 different nationalities who play on the Asian Tour.
“I really like this golf course. The greens are firm so it is really good for my game. You have to hit it high and it is an advantage if you hit it long. I think we are going to see different guys on the leaderboard this week. It is going to be a different set-up than what we usually play on in Asia,” said Henson.
Worldwide Holdings, a 100 per cent subsidiary of PKNS – the development arm of the state of Selangor – will title sponsor the Selangor Masters for the sixth successive year. The state-linked company has an impressive portfolio of businesses which include property development and investment, environmental management services and investment holding in Selangor.
The weekend rounds of the tournament will be telecast live on the Asian Tour’s global platform which reaches over 200 countries and 650 million homes