Anirban Lahiri ended the regular season of the PGA Tour with a pair of birdies on 17th and 18th holes at the Wyndham Championship. ensure a full PGA Tour card for 2021-22. It also earned him an entry back into the FedEx Cup play-offs for the first time since 2018.
Lahiri’s final T-46th placing earned him the 121st spot on the FedEx Cup standings, which ensured his playing rights for 2021-22 season, which begins in September.
On a tense final day of the last tournament before the play-offs, Lahiri survived some tense moments as he started bogey-bogey and was then in danger of falling on the wrong side of the line that separates Top-125 from the rest. In the end, he played superbly on 17th and 18th and ended the final day at even par 70 and a total of seven-under for T-46th.
Kevin Kisner won a six-man play-off for the Wyndham title as he birdied the second hole of the contest, while others parred. The others were Kevin Na, Branden Grace, Si Woo Kim, Adam Scott and Roger Sloan. They were all tied at 15-under 265.
Lahiri said, “It was nice to finish strong.” He added, “The funny thing is of those three bogeys, every single one of them I was on the fairway. So I think after the first six holes, it was just going downhill and I had to kind of really gather myself and get back to doing what I've been doing well. I knew I needed to make a few birdies coming in just to be safe for the play-offs, so that feels good.”
He went on, “I'd be lying if I say I'm not relieved. I played the Korn Ferry Finals in 2019 after losing my card and then I had a horrendous season, I played awful. I feel like I'm getting closer to my A-game, which I know is good enough to compete with the big boys. It's a relief that I can at least plan a schedule to some extent, I'm not waiting until Monday to see if I'm going to be first alternate or in and that's been the case a number of times in these last two years.”
Korea’s Si Woo Kim came agonisingly close to a second victory of the season at the Wyndham Championship.
Starting the day six off the lead, the 26-year-old Kim fired a closing 6-under 64 at Sedgefield Country Club to join a six-way playoff which American Kevin Kisner triumphed following a birdie on the second extra hole.
The six Asians playing the FedEx Cup play-offs, which carry a top prize of US$ 15 million, are Hideki Matsuyama of Japan (14th), Si Woo Kim (30th), Korea’s Sungjae Im (31st), K.H. Lee of Korea (34th), C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei (118th) and Anirban Lahiri (121st).
The top 125 will tee up in The Northern Trust at Liberty National in New Jersey on Thursday, followed by the top 70 at the BMW Championship and the leading 30 at the play-offs finale, the Tour Championship which will crown the new FedExCup champion.