Fast forward to the present time and one needs to look no further than the ultra-talented Lahiri as one of Asia’s best hopes at the Olympic Games.
The 28-year-old Indian is a seven-time Asian Tour winner and reigning Order of Merit champion and has already made his presence felt on the global stage with a top-five finish at the PGA Championship last year.
If the 2015 Asian Tour season was a keenly watched blockbuster, the protagonist would undoubtedly be Lahiri, who shone the brightest.
The Indian won the coveted Order of Merit crown following magnificent wins in Malaysian and India during a purple patch in February.
He also enjoyed new-found status as a world’s top-50 player, earned his PGA Tour card and also made his debut in the Presidents Cup, becoming the first India to achieve the feat.
Asian Tour Commissioner Kyi Hla Han rates Lahiri as ‘one of our exceptional talents who have emerged from the Asian Tour in recent times.’
Han, who is no stranger to success being a former Asian number one himself, is perhaps the consummate professional to provide that assessment as he knows how much of an impact players from the region’s premier Tour will make once the Olympics gets underway.
The Myanmarese credits the growth and influence of the Asian Tour over the past decade for providing players like Lahiri with the best opportunities to hone and improve their games.
He asserts that Asian players have cemented the Tour’s standing in world golf with their stellar performances in recent times and is confident of reliving all of these glorious moments in Rio.
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