CHENNAI: Anirban Lahiri is caught in a mixed bag of emotions. Training in Ahmedabad under his personal coach, India’s lone PGA Tour regular is happy to be hitting the ball after a long break. At the same time, he is unsure about the future. Professional golf is back in the US. He has no clue when he can join the action.Even though his place in the top flight is secured, Lahiri has to dig into his savings because playing as a professional is his source of income. Far from the mix means he also loses ranking points, along with a chance to earn exemptions to select events next year, which depends on how one performs in the ongoing season. After the pause caused by the pandemic, PGA Tour resumed on June 8. A fourth event after the restart is going on.

“Can’t do anything until restrictions on international travel from India are lifted. I have my card on the PGA Tour until next year. I will be there even if I don’t play this year. But my ranking will suffer, I may not get to play some events next year and this whole thing means I don’t get to earn a livelihood. Given the uncertainty, I can’t even plan anything,” Lahiri said.

Lahiri had flown down to Ahmedabad in March to train under Vijay Divecha before travelling to Hyderabad, where his parents live. He then travelled to Bengaluru with his wife and daughter, a move which demanded they be in self-isolation for 14 days. He was without his golf equipment all this while, before heading back to Ahmedabad a fortnight ago.

“Rules in Ahmedabad don’t make quarantine necessary and thankfully, the golf course is functional. I had not hit a ball for 70 days. I don’t remember being not in touch for that long since I was in class five or six! I am not sure what I can do because going back to Bengaluru means institutional quarantine for a week and another week of home isolation. All I can do is wait for an announcement from the ministry of civil aviation,” he said.

Lahiri, who turned 33 on June 29, is having a prolonged bad patch on the course. He played six events this year, with a best of 44th and four missed cuts. A current world ranking of 493 is his worst in nearly a decade. Having identified a few flaws, he is in Ahmedabad to work on those under Divecha, who was earlier based in Bengaluru.

“I have put in some intense work over the last few days, for which I had come to Ahmedabad. I have to see the results in a competition, whenever that is. Luckily the gym here is open, so I have worked on my body as well as game. In that respect, I have been luckier than a lot of players who have not been able to do anything,” said Lahiri.